Panchayat leaders demand PHE minister's ouster

Itanagar, Nov 14 (UNI) Panchayat leaders have demanded the ouster of Arunachal Pradesh Public Health Engineering(PHE), Cooperation and Information and Public Relation(IPR) minister Lombo Tayeng from the ministry for his alleged involvement in various scams.

Submitting a 156-page booklet to Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu here yesterday, 10 panchayat leaders and seven others of Mebo assembly constituency, alleged about illegal appointments and misappropriation of public money in various departments under Tayeng's tenure since 1997 and called for his immediate scalp from the cabinet.

Besdies the case of Mebo flood relief scam, which is still subjudice, the panchayat leaders have alleged misappropriation of public money to the tune of a whopping Rs 4.9 crore sanctioned against 84 Flood Damage Restoration(FDR) schemes in Upper Siang district during Tayeng's tenure as the irrigation and flood control minister in 2003-04.

The leaders claimed that the people got the shock of a lifetime as actually no work on the ground was ever executed. Armed with court verdicts, the panchayat leaders also highlighted the illegal appointments of five Tourist Information Officers during Tayeng's tenure in December 2005. The Court, however, quashed and subsequently terminated by the government.

Allegations of Tayeng's involvement in appointment of 13 child development project officers (CDPOs), 15 supervisors, ten upper divisional clerks, 19 lower divisional clerks and 21 peons in the social welfare department, appointment of five district art and culture officers (DACO) in art and culture department and various appointments in industries, cooperation and IPR departments was also mentiond in the booklet.

UNI