Prateek Hajela Stole Rs 100 Cr from Assam, Alleges APW Chief Aabhijeet Sharma

Guwahati, December 30, 2019:

Assam Public Works’ (APW) President, Aabhijeet Sharma met newly appointed NRC State Coordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma at his office on December 30, and complained that the former Coordinator, Prateek Hajela, had made away with Rs 100 crore.

Addressing the media, Sharma said, "We are sad that when 80 lakh Bangladeshis were included in the Assam NRC, and an IAS Officer (Coordinator Prateek Hajela) fled with Rs. 100 crore. Only the APW raised its voice. Out of the 19 lakh excluded from the NRC, 3 lakh have not applied yet. The rest 16 lakh include indigenous people like Koch Rajbongshis, Kalita, Sarma".

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"He (Hajela) has entered 80 lakh Bangladeshis in NRC. He made over 100 duplicate software and fled with Rs. 100 crore. Hajela has proved this to the central govt and is laughing at us", Sharma said.

The APW also submitted a memorandum requesting third-party audit of NRC Software, Application and IT Infrastructure, and petitioning high-level probe of corruption by the former Coordinator Prateek Hajela.

The nine-page memorandum stated the corruption done in employing Data Entry Operators of the same immigrant community in the NRC Seva Kendra of the immigrant dominated areas, leading to a lack of proper verification of ‘Family Tree’ and legacy data.

It also mentioned that the ex-NRC Coordinator, Prateek Hajela committed corruption along with his close aides. The memorandum named five Software Developer Companies which include WIPRO, BOHNIMAN SYSTEM Pvt. Ltd., Maddoc Technologies, Trans Technologies Solutions, and RJ-45 Technologies, involved in the NRC process, committing a corruption of Rs. 100 crores.

As per the memorandum, “a large number of illegalities, financial irregularities have been committed in making various expenditures”, including payments to DEOs and school teachers engaged in the process. Around 10, 000 laptops and  11,000 Electric Generators were also bought at double the real price.

The memorandum mentioned Hajela appointing a private counsel without the approval of the Ministry of Law and Justice Register General of India.

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