Committee probing Maninpur Police belt scam submits report

A three-member inquiry committee, headed by Additional Chief Secretary Suhel Aktar, on Thursday submitted a detailed report to Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on the "police belt scam" or supply of belts of extremely poor quality.

Accepting the report, N. Biren Singh, who holds charge of Home Department, promised drastic exemplary action against the guilty, saying that "my government has zero tolerance for corruption of any sort".

The committee was set up on June 7.

Biren Singh told IANS that the government had purchased belt for the police and paramilitary personnel in the state during 2013-14 but the belts manufactured using paper were of so poor quality that the Chief Minister tore one belt in front of the media persons.

"There is no question of compromising the materials of the police and paramilitary personnel who face the militants round the clock," he said.

Meanwhile, officials said on Thursday that Biren Singh had himself visited the warehouse where the bulk purchases of the sub-standard belts were stored and ordered it sealed pending further examination.

"The firm Abdul Gani Khan which had supplied the sub standard belt was blacklisted and further payments frozen," Biren Singh told IANS, adding that the supplier and high officials found involved in the scam will not be spared.

The BJP-led government had already initiated actions in the CCTV camera and street lamp scams, in which "whopping amounts were involved", as per the Chief Minister.

--IANS

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