AGARTALA, November 7 (TIWN): Under constant protests against the ongoing 'Scams Festival' State Govt and the ruling party CPI(M) seems to have bowed down. Though officially Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and CPI(M) State Secretary Bijan Dhar have denied any involvement of CPI(M) party and its 'Brand man' Manik Sarkar in these scams or any of the accused persons, recent activities clearly send the message that State Govt is highly concerned about all that are going on. Putting the blame on opposition and media and terming the discoveries of multi-crore scams in different departments as the effort of 'Imperialists' may give the ruling party and its so called 'Brand Manik' dividends in casting votes in the rural belts; but the power of truth is such that, someday it spills out spontaneously and no ruler however powerful cannot suppress truth .

However, under severe hammering from all corners and the possible CBI probe in Rs 50 crore MGNREGA scam , state govt ultimately has decided to frame strategies for damage control. A high level govt official told this correspondent on Thursday night,"

Recently opposition and media are proactive about the massive scams unearthed in various centrally sponsored funds in Tripura. From Rs 5 crore RMSA scam to the Rs 50 crore MGNREGA scam in Bishalgarh Block it is now clear to all that all the accused are either patronized by the CPI(M) leaders or closely related to the topmost power centre of the state govt. During the 16 years of Chief Ministership (since 1998) Manik Sarkar would never thought that one day Bimal Chakraborty will get caught in MGNREGA scam and all on a sudden media will start to dare in publishing news accusing him for showing leniency to the accused. The most fatal day would probably was the day when the 'Note ' given by the then Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury suggesting to lodge FIR against Bimal Chakraborty was flashed in media. After realizing the consequences of such scams in vote box in spite of thumping majority in 2013 Assembly election, Manik Sarkar and Bijan Dhar might have realized that fooling the people for long won't be as easy as it was in the past.

       The situation has come to such a sorrypass that even State Secretary of CPI(M) had to call a Press Meet to make it clear that 'there is no split within the party between Manik and Badal lobby' regarding the reshuffling of Cabinet. But even an illiterate man knows after carefully and efficiently handling the Finance Ministry for more than two decades there was no reason like 'Public Interest' to remove  Badal Chowdhury from Finance Department. Of course , keeping the interests of Bimal Chakraborty and his family members like Amal (DYFI State Secretary) and Shymal (CMs friend) may be more important than to take legal action against scam star  Bimal Chakraborty, who is well known for looting Govt funds , in the name of giving a share of it to CPI(M) leaders. Even many among the TCS lobby now say that Bimal had purchased three flats in and around Kolkata, swindled crores of rupees. Even two of influential leaders of CPI(M) Khowai Divisional Committee alleged to the top officials and even to state committee leaders that Bimal Chakraborty looted Rs 70000/- in the name of purchasing books from Agartala Book Fair( when he was posted as Panchayat Officer) and interestingly Bimal told his higher officials then that Rs 70000/- was given two these two CPI(M) leaders under pressure. But these two leaders were not cat all aware of this incident.

        Returning from Delhi Chief Minister Manik Sarkar asked a bunch of top officials in a three hours long closed door meeting. In that meeting all the top level officials were instructed to keep strict vigil so that no reports like Internal Audit Report of any department and any block or Municipality reaches to media." This incident is a clear indication that even the most powerful man has become scared with the ongoing scams news and its impact on the social life. And followed by this crucial meeting Secretary to the Govt of Tripura  Y Kumar issued a Memorandum from General Administration Department on 31st October 2014 assigning eight top level officials the responsibilities of overseeing developmental activities of 8 districts.

Under this memorandum, Chief Secretary G. Kameswar Rao has been assigned the responsibilities of West Tripura District. Others include Dr K. Rajeswara Rao, Principal Secretary(Sepahijal District), Lok Ranjan,Principal Secretary(Khowai District), K.Rakesh ,Principal Secretary(Unakoti District), M.Nagaraju, Secretary(Gomati District), Ashtosh Jindal, Secretary(Dhalai District), Yatendra Kumar,Secretary(North Tripura District) and Puneet Agarwal, Secretary (South Tripura District).

    The concerned Principal Secretary(s))/Secretary(St) shall attend District Level Wrap Up monthly meetings and reviews the progress achieved under various flagship programmes and unidentified developmental activities and extend necessary guidance to the DM & Collectors. The Principal Secretary(St)/Secretary(St) also will submit 'note' on the progress achieved and send a copy to the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister.

Interestingly in the memorandum the word 'note' is printed in bold letters and underlined. Now the question is such a 'note' was also given by the then Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury suggesting to lodge FIR against BDO Bimal Chakraborty and other accused in the MGNREGA case in Bishalgarh R D Block. And the outcome of that note? Well Finance Ministry was snatched from Badal Chowdhury and awarded to Bhanu Lal Saha.

Now awaits the activities of newly assigned Principal Secretary(S)/ Secretary(s), only time will tell what they will get in return from their 'notes' to CM. Needless to say, if any of these senior IAS officials smell a new scam involving CPIM leaders then their fate will be similar like Badal Chowdhury.