Prithviraj Chavan demands CBI inquiry in Maharashtra tur procurement discrepancies
Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan lambasted at the Devendra Fadnavis government for various discrepancies in the figures pertaining to tur cultivation and procurement.
In Short
- 11.71 lakh tonne tur has been produced against the estimate of 12.56 lakh tonne this year.
- Chavan said the CBI should be roped in to investigate the "manipulation".
Amid the allegations of scam in the tur (pigeon pea) procurement in Maharashtra former chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Monday demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the procurement.
Chavan lambasted at the Devendra Fadnavis government for various discrepancies in the figures pertaining to tur cultivation and procurement. He pointed that the state government had declared in 2015 that tur was cultivated on 12.37 lakh hectare while its production was 4.44 lakh tonne.
This year the government informed in the legislative assembly that 11.71 lakh tonne tur has been produced against the estimate of 12.56 lakh tonne. A month later, the government announced that the tur production has gone up by five times taking the production to 20 lakh tonnes. "The figures are definitely manipulated," Chavan alleged.
Chavan claimed that the Union government imported one lakh tur because of the confusion created by the Maharashtra government. "How come the government could not estimate exact figures?" he asked.
Chavan said the CBI should be roped in to investigate the "manipulation". He also demanded that the custom duty on import of tur should be hiked up to 25 percent from the existing 10 percent and the ban on export of tur should be lifted till existing crisis is over.
TUR SALE UNDER RADAR
Meanwhile, a huge quantity of tur sale by the family members of minister of state for animal husbandry Arjun Khotkar has come under the government's radar. It is reported that brother and wife of Khotkar, a senior Shiv Sena leader from Jalna, sold 187 quintal tur in one day at the local procurement centre. The family collectively has sold 377 quintal tur so far at a cost of Rs 19 lakh.
The government officials suspect that either the Khotkar family doctored the records of tur production or acted as traders in this matter. Khotkar, however, has clarified that his family owns farm of 400 hectare so it is not unusual for them to produce 377 quintal of tur.
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