After Manhart appointment, Momentum Jharkhand too comes under lens

Jamshedpur: Initiatives and projects of the erstwhile BJP government of Jharkhand are now coming under lens of the present government of Hemant Soren. A few days after the Chief Minister Hemant Soren issued orders to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate appointment of Manhart, orders for Special Audit of Momentum Jharkhand event too have been issued.

Once the Audit report comes, a decision would be taken as to whether the issue should be further investigated by ACB or not.

It may be added that the Chief Minister Hemant Soren has already ordered the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate the alleged scam in the appointment of Manhart as a consultant for sewerage-drainage construction of Ranchi in 2005 by the erstwhile Raghubar Das government.

Both the issues of Manhart appointment and Momentum Jharkhand have been incessantly raised by the former minister Saryu Roy.

In his latest comment Saryu Roy, former minister and MLA, Jamshedpur East has hinted that “not only the CM, Chief Secretary and the government officials toured the world, but many ‘smaller fries’ too went on foreign tours at the cost of government exchequer benefiting none. At least now the government should account for it.”

Saryu Roy has been raising these two issues incessantly for a long time. On October 2, he announced that he would hold a Facebook Live on the issue of Manhart.

Saryu Roy has also written a book on the issue of Manhart appointment.

It may be recalled that Momentum Jharkand was organised on February 16 and 17, 2020 at Khelgaon, Ranchi. This event had been embroiled in controversies from the very beginning.

Soon after assuming power in Jharkhand, the Chief Minister Hemant Soren had looked into the file relating to Momentum Jharkhand. It was alleged that the event had a starting budget of Rs. 8.5 cr, but finally the budget reached 100 cr. There are allegations that gross favouritism was shown in sending people on foreign tours.

A land bank too was formed at that time and now the government is also examining the process of granting land.

The government is now trying to find as to what benefits these initiatives brought to the state and at what cost.

Now the Finance Department of Jharkhand would carry out a special audit of Momentum Jharkhand and once the audit report is submitted to the government, a decision would be taken on whether the matter should be investigated by Anti-Corruption Bureau or not.