Jaipur, May 23 (IANS) Days after Rs 2.31 crore cash and 1 kg gold were recovered from a locked almirah in a basement of Yojana Bhavan near state secretariat, Rajasthan BJP on Tuesday attacked the Ashok Gehlot government, demanding that the matter should be investigated by central agencies.
During a press conference, state BJP President CP Joshi said that finding Rs 2.31 crore cash and one kg gold in the secretariat building is the biggest incident of corruption in the country.
“The joint director Ved Prakash Yadav, arrested on charges of corruption, is just a small fish and how this officer got government protection for so long, should be investigated,” said Joshi adding that the main culprits of corruption are still out of reach.
Joshi also alleged scams in Urban Development & Housing (UDH) Department, REET paper leak, mine allotment, GST evasion in Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) in the state.
Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore also attacked the Gehlot government over alleged scams in four and a half years. He said that in the budget announcement, the budget of the IT sector was 5 per cent of the total budget in which the announcement of giving smartphones to 1.35 crore women and drone purchase, etc, were made.
“These phones were not bought last year as their favourite company, from which the government’s commission was fixed, was not available. Due to this, the purchase was postponed. Smartphones worth about Rs 21,000 crore will be purchased this year,” Rathore alleged.
Linking the case of cash and gold found in Yojana Bhavan with the purchase of IT equipment, Rathore said that the officer who was caught in the matter is also a member of the purchase committee. The government wants to close the cases by arresting this joint director. “However, there are 90 joint directors. There have been 30 additional directors, nine technical directors, one commissioner, one finance secretary, one ACS and then the chief minister himself. When the central agency investigates this whole matter, then the entire chain will get exposed,” he added.
On the gold biscuits found in Yojana Bhavan, Rajendra Rathod said that how did so much gold reach here, by which route this gold came to Yojana Bhawan. Accusing the Gehlot government of gold smuggling, he demanded that it be investigated by the NIA and ED.
Directly targeting Gehlot, he alleged that if the Gehlot government is clean, then all the tenders issued for IT should be cancelled.
Describing the corruption of the Gehlot government of the state as institutional and organised, he alleged corruption in nutrition, Jal Jeevan Mission, in providing electricity connections and in providing electricity transformers to farmers.
“Electricity worth Rs 14,000 crore was purchased last year, in which the government closed its thermal plants, from which we used to get electricity at Rs 4.31 per unit, leaving it at Rs 17 per unit. In this regard, when the BJP protested in the assembly, the next year the same electricity was purchased for Rs 12,” Rajendra Rathod claimed.
“Similarly, by doing a scam in the purchase of coal, 5.79 metric tonnes of coal worth Rs 1042 crore was bought from Adani group at a cost of Rs 18,000 per metric ton, then the same 3.38 lakh metric tonnes of coal is being prepared for purchase at a cost of Rs 15,000 per metric ton. The difference of Rs 3000 per metric ton in both the purchase rates is an example of corruption,” he added.
Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena also targetted the state government over corruption and presented facts related to scams worth thousands of crores in the IT sector.
Citing PILs filed in the Supreme Court and the High Court in the cases of scams, Meena said, “The ACB had sought permission from the Gehlot government many times regarding loss to the exchequer, but the government completely rejected it. It is clear from this, that the government is steeped in corruption.”
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Rathore announced that the party will expose one scam of the Gehlot government every week.
Rajya Sabha MP Kirori Lal Meena said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will be seen running on the road if the ED investigates the scam and bribery in the IT department. “Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot says that he wrote a letter to ED to investigate many cases but ED did not investigate any case. The Chief Minister should write a letter to the ED to investigate this matter, only then it will be believed that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot does not discriminate in the matter of corruption,” Meena added.
–IANS
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