Ranchi, January 13: Jharkhand’s Deputy Chief Minister Raghubar Das has been accused of colluding with and rewarding favours to a private firm in the latest scam to hit the state.
A report prepared by a high powered committee set up by Jharkhand Assembly has indicted Das.
Following the indictment the troublesome past seems to be catching up with Das.
The alleged scam dates back to 2005, when Das was the urban development minister in Arjun Munda-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
Under him, a contract worth Rs 200 crore was awarded to a Singapore-based firm, Meinhardt for building and managing the sewage drainage system of entire Ranchi city.
The conditions laid down for bidding for contract were spelt out clearly. One of the conditions was that the firm must have declared profits for three consecutive years starting from 2002 to 2005.
However, as documents show Meinhardt never disclosed the returns from 2004 to 2005.
Amongst the four firms who were bidding for the contract, Meinhardt was not the only company violating the laid down norms. Another firm, Barchill Partners Pvt Ltd also did not disclose returns for the last year.
On the same grounds while Barchill was thrown out, Meinhardt was not only retained but also awarded the highest ranking.
The controversy had kicked up a huge political row even at the time of awarding the contract.
In his defence Das accused the special committee of going beyond its jurisdiction in questioning his decision.
He even asked members not to disclose findings of key meetings that had been chaired by him
Rather interestingly, when the BJP was in power in Jharkhand in 2005, a technical committee had given a clean chit to the deal and to Das.
But when the BJP lost the government in the state, a separate committee was formed which completely overruled the earlier clean chit.
“How can you say that I am guilty? Do you have the report?” an agitated Das shot back at reporters in Ranchi.
Congress MLAs say they will raise the issue in the Assembly.
So now Jharkhand is being led by two individuals both of whom are under the scanner.
Chief Minister Shibu Soren is alleged to have links with Maoists while his deputy is being accused of being corrupt by his own MLA colleagues.
—Agencies