RANCHI: Jamshedpur (East) Independent MLA and former BJP leader Saryu Rai, who had vowed to make public the corrupt activities of the then chief minister, Raghubar Das, has written to incumbent chief minister Hemant Soren to order a probe into the alleged “scam” during the Statehood Day celebrations in 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, when Rai was with BJP, the then saffron party government under Das had spent Rs 9.5 crore for the Statehood Day celebrations.
During an event of the celebrations, ‘prabhat feri’, the government had spent Rs 5 crore on T-shirts and Rs 35 lakh on toffees for distribution to the participating school students.
Rai, who is demanding a probe either by the anti-corruption bureau of the state government or the CBI, said the expenditure of Rs 5.35 crore on T-shirts and toffees is not only extravagant but also grossly mismatched the volume of the claimed purchases and the actual number of participants.
The Independent MLA had already raised the issue in the last budget session after which an assembly committee is looking into it.
He had also filed a writ petition in the Jharkhand high court, which is hearing the matter currently.
Rai said that there is no rule preventing the state government from referring it to a competent investigating agency despite the matter being heard in court.
“The government need not wait for the direction of the court to order a probe,” he claimed.
Elaborating on the issue, Rai in his letter to Soren said in 2016, the then government had placed an order to buy toffees and T-shirts to Jamshedpur-based traders — Lalla Enterprises and Prakash Sharma respectively — without floating tenders.
“Lalla Enterprises never purchased stocks or sold toffees to the government either in 2016 or 2017 but was paid Rs 35 lakh out of which the firm paid a GST of Rs 4 lakh to the commercial taxes department.
To further cover up the matter, the commercial taxes department slapped a fine of Rs 17 lakh on Lalla Enterprises later,” Rai’s letter reads.
He further said a similar bungling occurred in the matter of T-shirt purchase as Prakash Singh, the local agent for Ludhiana-based Kudu Fabrics, received payment of Rs 5 crore but the commercial taxes department neither issued any road permit nor is aware of the consignment being ferried by road or railways.
“How was this huge consignment brought to Jharkhand from Ludhiana is not known to anyone,” Rai said.
During the same ceremony, the government had organized a musical night by Sunidhi Chouhan for which she was paid Rs 55 lakh.
Rai said the event was approved by Das in a meeting held on November 9, 2016, on the recommendation of his senior personal secretary.
“During the meeting, Rs 44 lakh was proposed as the cost of the event but later the singer was paid Rs 55 lakh,” Rai said, drawing attention to another musical night of Chauhan organised by Surya Mandir Samity, Jamshedpur, on the occasion of Chhath on November 9, 2016.
“Das happens to be the convener of that temple committee and whether the payment for that event was made from the government fund and resulted in the escalation of the cost of the Statehood Day celebrations, needs to be checked,” Rai said.
His letter claims that while Rs 9.5 crore was spent in 2016, the budget went further up to Rs 12 crore in 2017.
“These expenses should be audited and verified by a competent authority and since some purchases involve other states, CBI should be assigned to handle the probe,” Rai demanded.