STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Dr Sanjay K Gupta, founder of the NGO CARE North East Foundation (CNEF) has denied the allegation of financial irregularities and mismanagement of collected waste levelled against him and his NGO by certain media.
Dr Sanjay K Gupta, who hails from Tinsukia, worked in Switzerland. He returned to his town and found that it was declared one of the dirtiest towns in the country in 2017-18. He formed the NGO CARE North East Foundation (CNEF). After signing an MoU between CNEF and Tinsukia Municipal Board, the NGO started door-to-door waste collection in all 15 wards of Tinsukia using 19 vehicles. Such waste collection had never happened before in Tinsukia town.
Today, Tinsukia stands among the top 10 cleanest towns of both the Northeast and Assam as per Swachh Sarvekshan Q2 results in 2020. However, recently a news channel released a news clip with allegations of financial irregularities and mismanagement of collected waste against Dr Gupta and his NGO. Dr Gupta was accused of a scam involving crores of rupees and CSR funds from Oil India Limited (OIL).
Addressing a press conference in the city on Tuesday, Dr Gupta said, "A minimal fee is collected from households for operations. Starting with Rs 90,000 per month in 2019, the current collection stands at Rs 6 lakh- Rs 7.25 lakh. During the pandemic, collection was less than Rs 3 lakh per month on most of the months whereas the operational expenses were Rs 8 lakh or more.
"This deficit was covered by CNEF to keep the project going. CNEF only received Rs 22,06,156 in cheque from January 2021 to April 2022 from the municipality, for which the bank statements are available with the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia for verification. CNEF was advised not to collect user fees during the pandemic outbreak, which the organization abided by. The financial audited report of three years has also been submitted to the DC office which contradicts the allegation of a scam."
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