GUWAHATI: Two journalists have put out several questions related to the negligence and lack of records with regard to the Rs 8 crore fund allocated for the renovation of the Rabindra Bhawan, located in the heart of Guwahati. Himanta Sharma and Anupam Hazarika expressed suspicion regarding possible mismanagement of the funds.
A Right to Information (RTI) application was filed on March 16 with the Cultural Affairs Department of the state, seeking details of the repairs to the facility and some other details. But the reply provided by the department had only three replies and mentioned that details regarding the rest of the work were available with the Public Works Department.
The reply to the RTI said, “As the most important cultural infrastructure in North East India, various programmes of various government and non-government institutions were organised in this facility. The city of Guwahati received heavy rains in June last year, leaving most of the city underwater, which included the vicinity of Rabindra Bhawan. This led to water seepage into the auditorium and brought a halt to the renovation work. Finally, vide letter No. CAM. 35/2022/10 dtd. 17/06/2022 from the director of the concerned department, we visited his office and held discussions, and as per the discussions, it was decided to reconstruct the floor of the auditorium immediately to stop the water from coming in as it was not possible to continue work without immediate reconstruction. Therefore, the work was urgently started by the department as decided in the Cabinet meeting held on 06-09-2022 in Kokrajhar. The department issued letter no. Min/DR/IC GuPS/CA/29/2022/34 dated September 7, 2022, to prepare DPR for the reconstruction of Rabindra Bhavan. The letter came from the Departmental Minister, Bimal Bora, to the Departmental Special Commissioner and Special Secretary (Home and National Highway). Therefore, the repair work was stopped.”
Commenting on this reply given by the department, Himanta Sharma said, “There is no income from the cultural department, but the Rabindra Bhavan generates about Rs 6 lakh per month for the cultural department. About Rs. 8–9 crore was spent on repairs. Even if water enters the premises in the rainy season, why didn’t it open during the dry season? Why hasn’t it opened yet when the water stops coming in? Suppose the building is reconstructed and it takes one year to prepare the DPR, the department could have earned about Rs 70–75 lakhs this year.”
The journalist demanded a high-level investigation into the matter as soon as possible, questioning why the department is afraid to account for Rs 8–9 crore spent on repairs. Rabindra Bhavan has been closed since 2018. Although it was reopened for a few days last year, the theatre has been closed ever since for repairs due to water seepage.
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