PRESS COVERAGE : Boribandh racket of Modi government
Following are the press clippings regarding press conference on “BJP government’s sandbag check dam scam” held in Ahmedabad on 13.11.2009 .
PTI News
Sand bag check dams were built only on paper: Congress
Alleging financial irregularities to the tune of over Rs 250 crore in the name of constructing sand bag check dams, Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shaktisih Gohil said such water bodies were built only on paper and huge amount of money has been siphoned off.
Addressing a press conference here today, he said the state government has claimed to have built around 2.65 lakh check dams this year with sand bags (locally called boribund) in order to conserve rain water in the monsoon.
He said people were asked to build such dams in the rural areas during monsoon and the scheme was funded under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
Demanding a CBI investigation, Gohil even asked the state government to bring out a White paper on the issue.
Read More at :
http://www.ptinews.com/news/375913_Sand-bag-check-dams-were-built-only-on-paper–Congress
Economic Times – Gujarati
ચેક ડેમ પ્રોજેક્ટમાં રૂ. 265 કરોડનું કૌભાંડ : કોંગ્રેસ
ગુજરાતમાં 2007ની સાલમાં બનાવવામાં આવેલા ચેકડેમમાં મોટા પાયે ગેરરીતિ થઈ હોવાનો અને તેમાં ઓછામાં ઓછો રૂ.265 કરોડનો ભ્રષ્ટાચાર થયો હોવાનો આક્ષેપ ગુજરાત વિધાનસભાના વિરોધ પક્ષના નેતા શક્તિસિંહ ગોહિલે કર્યો છે. ગોહિલે આ કૌભાંડની CBI દ્વારા તપાસ કરાવવાની પણ માંગ કરી છે. ગયા વર્ષે મોદી સરકાર પર સુજલામ્ સુફલામ્ સિંચાઈ યોજનામાં રૂ. 650 કરોડની ગેરરીતિ થઈ હોવાનો પણ આક્ષેપ કરાયો હતો.
શક્તિસિંહ ગોહિલે સરકારી અધિકારીઓ દ્વારા નેશનલ રુરલ ઇમ્પ્લોયમેન્ટ ગેરન્ટી (નરેગા)ના ભંડોળની કથિત ઉચાપતને લગતા નકલી દસ્તાવેજો શુક્રવારે રજૂ કર્યા હતા. ગોહિલે આક્ષેપ કર્યો હતો કે ચેકડેમ યોજનામાં રૂ. 265 કરોડનું કૌભાંડ થયું છે.
શક્તિસિંહ ગોહિલે જણાવ્યુ હતું કે આ કૌભાંડ મોટું હોઈ શકે છે પરંતુ ઓછામાં ઓછા એક ચેકડેમમાંથી રૂ. 10000નો ગોટાળો ગણીએ તો કુલ 265000 ચેકડેમના કુલ 265 કરોડ જેટલી મોટી રકમ થાય.
આ અંગે હું કમ્પ્ટ્રોલર ઓડિટર જનરલને તપાસ કરવા પણ પત્ર લખવાનો છું. તેમણે મોદી પર પ્રહાર કરતાં જણાવ્યું હતું કે હું ખાતો નથી અને કોઈને ખાવા દેતો નથી તેવી ગુલબાંગ પોકારનાર મુખ્યપ્રધાન નરેન્દ્ર મોદી પાસે આ અંગે CBI તપાસ કરાવવાની માંગ કરું છું. આની તપાસ કરવા માટે અમે પણ ભારત સરકારને જાણ કરવાના છીએ. ગોહિલે આક્ષેપ કર્યો હતો કે કેન્દ્ર સરકારની રોજગાર ગેરંટી યોજનાનાં નાણાં સગેવગે થઈ ગયાં છે. તાજેતરમાં ઓગસ્ટ 2009માં એક લાખ ચેકડેમ બનાવવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેમાં પણ આ જ પ્રકારે કૌભાંડ થયું છે. જે સ્થળ પર 15 ચેકડેમ બન્યા હોવાનું ચોપડે બોલે છે ત્યાં માત્ર બે કે ત્રણ જ ચેકડેમ બન્યા છે.
Read More at :
http://gujarati.economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5230149.cms
The Asian Age (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, London editions plus Deccan Chronicle: Hyderabad and Chennai)
Deepal Trivedi’s story on the sandbag check dam scam.
Congress claims sand bag scam in Gujarat
The Congress has alleged a multi-crore sand bag check dam scam in the Narendra Modi government. Crores of rupees sent by the Centre under the Rural Employment Scheme and other schemes are being siphoned off by BJP politicians in Gujarat.
In one case study, at least two educated village youth found their names impersonated and daily wages were collected using their thumb prints. Fake bills of sand bags were produced and money gathered using fake sales tax numbers, leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil revealed here on Friday. The Gujarat government has said that all the claims made by the Congress are rubbish and out of sheer jealousy.
The Congress has demanded a CBI inquiry and said that a whitepaper on the sand bag check dam project along with an independent inquiry could unravel a scam ranging from Rs 265-500 crores. He said in August 2009 alone, over one lakh sand bag check dams were built in Gujarat.
The Congress is soon going to seek intervention of Comptroller-and-Auditor-General to audit the books of the project covering over 2.65 lakh check dams.
Read More at :
INDIAN EXPRESS, Khalique AHmed’s story on BORIBUND scam.
Gohil alleges Rs 500-crore scam in boribund work, demands CBI probe
The Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, has demanded a CBI inquiry into what he calls “boribund scam” by the state government to the tune of Rs 500 crore. Gohil has also called for a White Paper on the location of 2.65 lakh boribunds (temporary check dams) built since 2006 when the scheme was first launched.
Speaking to media persons at the Circuit House Annexe on Friday, Gohil said he will write to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for a probe into the alleged misappropriation of the public money received as assistance from the Centre for rural asset creation programme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Times of India
Himanshu Kaushik’s story on Boriband scam in Times of India, today.
Gohil alleges scam in NREGS – Ahmedabad – City – The Times of India
These are not just two isolated incidents. Leader of opposition Shaktisinh Gohil told a press conference on Friday that these were stories of a rampant corruption in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). He alleged officials right up to the chief ministers’ office were involved in this corruption that could go upto Rs 265 crore claimed as funds under NREGS.
Gohil said that using Right to Information Act, they got the atten-dance register and the copy of the bills. A close scrutiny of the bills and spot investigation revealed that Hargovindas’ shop never existed. He said that the bill bore a sales tax entry no and when an RTI application was filed with Sales Tax department it was revealed that that there was no such shop registered under them.
In the other instance, an amount of Rs 1,747 was paid as wages to a labourer named Thakore against a thumb impression. However, inquiry revealed that Thakore was a college student. The affidavit filed by Thakore states that he never worked at construction sites of sand-bag dams.
* Amrutlal Hargovindas Thakkar, is a dealer of empty sand bags and has shown a business worth Rs 65,010 on a bill, showing an address in Harij, Banaskantha. This dealer actually does not even exist.
* Labhubhai Thakore is a labourer working at a sandbag dam construction site. He has taken his daily wages by impressing his thumb on an attendance register. In reality, Labhubhai is a college student and knew how to sign his name.
Read More at :
Gujarat Global
Multi million rupee boribandh racket of Modi government
Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil has demanded a white paper on the Boribandh scheme and said that there should be a CBI inquiry into this. He alleged that the Gujarat Government made payments to fake dealers for material of boribandh and contractors in turn pad wages to workers on paper only. He said that the scam involved an amount of Rs.100 crore.
In support of his allegations, Gohil produced before media documents he had obtained under the Right To Information Act from government itself. He said that the company which was said to have supplied the material for Boribandh did not exist. What is more, he said, the Sales Tax Number quoted in the bills of the fake companies was also fake. This was established by the information under the RTI he said.
http://www.gujaratglobal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1860&Itemid=38
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