AIZAWL, April 5: The
Mizo National Front (MNF),
which had vehemently protested last year against the
scandalous Mizoram lottery
contracts, is now showing
keen interest in renewing
the lotteries, Zoram People’s
Movement (ZPM) leader Lalduhoma alleged today.
Addressing a press conference at the ZPM office, he said,
“We all know that the MNF had alleged irregularities in the
State lotteries. MNF workers
had even picketed the Directorate of Institutional Finance
and State Lottery in Aizawl. As
a result, the Congress government suspended all lottery
draws on July 9, 2018.”
Now, the MNF government is showing keen interest in lotteries, and is intent
on renewing contracts with
the same agents it had severely criticised during the
Congress government, Lalduhoma said.
He said that the State Lottery Committee (SLC) was
convened on March 15,
where it was decided to renew the agreement with the
agents whose contracts had
been cancelled by the Congress government.
The period of the proposed
agreement is till September
2019, and can be extended
after negotiations with the
distributors, Lalduhoma said,
adding that the agreement is
being drafted with the aim to
extend the contract period in
the first place.
Of the four distributors, M/
s E-Cool Gaming Solutions
has withdrawn, as a result of
which its share of six draws
will be distributed among the
remaining three distributors. The proposal has been
approved by the Chief Minister, he said.
Lalduhoma said that as the
contracts with the four distributors had been cancelled
by the Congress government,
they cannot be renewed. “If
the MNF government is keen
on renewing lottery draws, it
must float fresh tenders. Selection of distributors without
tenders is illegal, and there
were Supreme Court rulings
against that. Moreover, the
MNF government is prevented by the model code of
conduct from taking such action,” he said.
“By showing favouritism
to the same distributors it
had condemned, the MNF
shows that it does not have
any principle and is starting
off on the path of corruption,” Lalduhoma said.
It may be recalled that in
July 2018, the then Congress
government had suspended all
State lottery draws by the four
distributors – as well as delayed the process of floating a
new tender – following a
month of protests by the then
opposition MNF that alleged
crony capitalism and corruption in the lottery industry.
There were four distributors under the Mizoram State
Lottery. While paper lottery
was sold by Teesta Distributors, online lottery was sold
by three distributors – Summit Online Trade Solution,
NV International and E-Cool
Gaming Solutions. The MNF
had alleged that the State
government had incurred
losses amounting to Rs
11,808.77 crore because of
the lottery scam. ~Assam Tribune
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