NCP & Cong allege graft worth hundreds of crores, call for 5 ministers to resign
Opposition Nationalist Congress Party and Congress cornered BJP ministers Eknath Khadse, Girish Bapat, Vinod Tawde, Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Vishnu Savara over alleged corruption running into hundreds of crores in the departments of food and civil supply, education, energy and tribal development. Dhananjay Munde, Leader of Opposition in state Legislature Council demanded the resignation of these ministers, inquiry through commission of enquiry act and a probe done by a sitting judge of the high court.
Speaking on last week’s resolution, Mr Munde said in the Upper House, “Tribal department disbursed fellowship to the tribal students studying in higher secondary, but the crores of rupees were deposited into the bank account of some trust instead of the students.”
The NCP leader said the government has paid crores of rupees to trusts who claim to run tribal schools, but reports from some districts in the state have revealed that those trusts don’t run any such schools.
Mr Munde targeted the food and civil supplies department over the increased price of the pulses, saying that this is an artificial shortage created by a nexus of officials, traders and the minister concerned. He alleged a secret meeting had been held between a hoarder company at Khopoli in Raigad district and the minister Girish Bapat. He said the scam was worth '4,250 crore and alleged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis deliberately ignored it.
Mr Munde also said corruption worth '200 crore had taken place in procuding solar pumps for drought-affected villages. The Gujarat government has purchased one solar pump at the cost of '3.50 lakh and the Maharashtra government has purchased them for over '5 lakh, though both have the same scope of work, he said. “There is '200-crore corruption in the purchase of solar pumps. The government has even eaten into the funds meant for the drought-affected farmers,” alleged Mr Munde.
The NCP leader added the education department has purchased photographs of national heroes like Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule at '1,395 per photo, while the same photos were available at the cost of '15 per photo in the government’s own printing press, said Mr Munde.
“An inquiry should be conducted in all these issues by a sitting HC judge and till then all the ministers associated with these department should tender their resignations,” Mr Munde demanded.
Congress group leader Sharad Ranpise said the government was accountable to the citizens and so they must suspend these ministers to ensure a fair inquiry into these allegations. NCP leader Ajit Pawar initiated the debate on the same issue in the Lower House.
