Civil society group of Manipur seeks CBI probe into alleged swindling of Sports University's fund

IMPHAL:

The Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL), a civil society organisation of Manipur, submitted a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the alleged embezzlement of the National Sports University’s (NSU) fund amounting to Rs 5.17 crore.

It was alleged that the officials of the Hindustan Steelworks Construction Ltd (HSCL) swindled the funds in the year 2017-2018 in "connivance" with the authorities of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (YAS), Government of India.

In a release issued by the general secretary of KKL, Ngamkheingakpa Luwang, an administrative sanction, amounting to Rs 5.17 crore, was given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in April 2017 to raze an entire hillock at the NSU campus at Koutruk in Imphal West.

Also Read: Manipur by-polls: ECI issues directives to CEO on political ads

The project was undertaken to prepare the ground for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone of NSU in the year 2018.

However, PM Modi did not go to Koutruk but instead laid the foundation stone at the Cricket Stadium at Luwangsangbam in Imphal in the same year.

Ngamkheingakpa Luwang stated that during that time, the HSCL had merged with the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), a public sector undertaking which had taken charge of the construction of the NSU.

Also Read: Manipur By-Elections 2020: 1,35,212 electorates expected to vote in the upcoming by-polls

"The truth of the matter is that the NBCC officials in connivance with the YAS authorities had taken a photograph of a ground already constructed by the state PWD in Koutruk and shown it as the actual work done for the Rs.5.17 crore sanctioned for the purpose," Ngamkheingakpa Luwang alleged.

Luwang asserted that the fact that a huge amount of money was misappropriated calls for a CBI enquiry.

(Edited by Preetty Chambugong Marak)