Bhubaneswar, November 22: While Orissa government is under attack for multi-crore mining scandal, opposition Congress today raised another Rs134 crore scam in procurement of agricultural equipment.
The issue was raised in the assembly by Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan while participating in a discussion on an adjournment motion.
“I have evidence of a ruling party MLA bringing this scam to the Agriculture minister’s attention. Though the minister ordered an inquiry into the allegation, later it was dropped,” Harichandan claimed telling the House that he would lay all related documents for examination.
The government, however, refuted the allegation and challenged the Congress member to prove charges.
Not disclosing name of the member, Harichandan claimed that the ruling party MLA had written a letter to the agriculture minister on October 2, 2009 highlighting the scam.
“Based on the MLA’s allegation, agriculture minister had also ordered an inquiry”, he said adding that the inquiry was abruptly terminated for mysterious reasons.
The concerned MLA had also requested the minister to drop the inquiry in a subsequent letter on November 3, 2009, he pointed out.
Pleading ignorance about the matter, agriculture minister Damodar Rout, said he was waiting for the relevant documents from Harichandan for examination.
–PTI–