GUWAHATI, April 23 ? A group of agitated beneficiaries under a Centrally-sponsored vehicle loan scheme today laid siege to the office of the WPT and BC Minister, Bharat Chandra Narah in Janata Bhawan complex here after the Assam Plains Tribe Development Corporation (APTDC) had postponed the ?loan mela? scheduled for today at the eleventh hour. The WPT and BC Minister, Sri Narah informed that about 18 Tata Sumos, 32 autorickshaws and three mini-trucks were to be distributed among the beneficiaries who had paid their share in December last year, at a loan mela scheduled for today. All the vehicles were ready for distribution.
However, following objections raised by at least three members of the Board of Directors of the APTDC, about the list of beneficiaries in the last moment forced the authority to postpone the distribution of vehicles and convene an emergency Board meeting on April 25 next to resolve the matter. The Minister informed that the then Managing Director of the APTDC had prepared the list of beneficiaries and even accepted the seed money from them ?keeping the Board members and the Chairman, the Minister himself, in the dark.? The Board members who are legislators of the ruling Congress party, got to know about the list of beneficiaries only after they had been given invitation to the ?loan mela? scheduled for today. Some of the Board members raised objection over the list of beneficiaries and the APTDC authority decided to postpone to distribution of vehicles till the emergency Board meeting is held on April 25 next.
However, the beneficiaries who had come to Guwahati to collect their vehicles were in no mood to wait any longer and demanded that the vehicles be distributed today itself as per the schedule. They then laid siege to the Minister?s chamber. The Minister requested them to wait for at least two more days and pledged that APTDC would bear the cost of their extra days stay in the city. Sri Narah informed this newspaper that since the Corporation had already accepted the ?seed money? from the beneficiaries, it was legally bound to provide them with the vehicles. The vehicles are being provided under a Centrally-sponsored scheme and the beneficiaries are required to pay 10 per cent of the total cash amount as ?seed money?.