Assam apex literary body demands apology from govt

Guwahati, Sep 7 (UNI) Assam Sahitya Sabha, an NGO and the apex literary body of the state, today demanded an apology from the Union Human Resource Development Ministry for mistakenly blacklisting them.

The Sabha was blacklisted by the Ministry for allegedly failing to provide utilisation certificate of Government-Sponsored funds, which they announced during a question-hour session in Parliament.

''We were shocked and ashamed. But when we sought the details from the ministry, we found that the ministry was looking at three grants the Sabha had received between 1979 and 1992,'' said the Sabha President Kanak Sen Deka while addressing a news conference today.

''Altogether, the three grants amounted to Rs 1,18,964 and all of them have been utilised as per the scheme. We not only have complete documentary proof of the same but in fact the utilisation certificates have also been sent to them,'' said Mr Deka.

''The ministry, now realising their mistake, have asked them to send the utilisation certificates through an affidavit and after that they have assured us that black listed tag would be removed'' said Mr Deka.

''But that was not enough. The damage had been done. These accounts dated back to 20 years. The Ministry should seek clarification from us instead of maligning us in Parliament. The Sabha and the people of Assam will never forget this injustice. The first grant was for a Kavi Shnmelan and the other grants were for book publishing. Everything was done as per the scheme guidelines,'' he said.

He urged both the Assam Government and MPs of the stateto raise the matter on the floor of the House to pressurise theconcerned minister to give a corrected statement in the floor of the house.

''If our demands are not met, we will seek legal action for adequate compensation against tarnishing our reputation,'' said Mr Deka.

UNI