Ranchi, Nov 13 (Inditop.com) Mineral-rich Jharkhand – where 54 percent of the population lives below the poverty line – continues to be exploited by a small section of people. If the scams in recent years were put together, then the value may cross Rs.7,000 crore.
Be it the four chief ministers the state has had since its formation in 2000 or ministers or bureaucrats, too many people in positions of power have come under a cloud over the years.
“A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry should take place against people who were in power after Jharkhand was carved out. People involved in scams should be booked and sent to jail. Corrupt people have only one religion – corruption – and they do not belong to any party,” said Raghubar Das, state Bharatiya Janata Party president.
Echoing his view, Rabindra Singh, spokesperson of the Jharkhand Congress, told IANS, “We are in favour of a CBI inquiry against ministers, chief ministers, bureaucrats and technocrats after Jharkhand was created.
“Only those who emerge clean after the probe should be allowed to do politics.”
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking CBI probes has been filed against four former chief ministers that Jharkhand has had since 2000 – Babulal Marandi, Arjun Munda, Madhu Koda and Shibu Soren.
The latest scam surfaced when the Income Tax (IT) Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at 76 places in eight Indian cities from Oct 31. The raids were conducted at the houses and places linked to former chief minister Madhu Koda, who is an independent Lok Sabha MP, his close associates Vinod Sinha, Sanjay Chaudhary and others.
According to IT officials, there is information related to Rs.3,000 crore worth of illegal transactions, including hawala, in the case. Koda is alleged to be at the centre of the scam.
“The figure of illegal transactions and hawala may be around Rs.4,000- Rs.5,000 crore,” said a source in the IT department. “The investigation to crack all aspects of money-laundering could take one to three months if we get cooperation from all sources and investigating agencies.”
But this is certainly not the state’s first brush with a big scam.
The first major corruption scandal surfaced in 1996 when Jharkhand was still part of Bihar. This was the Rs.950 crore animal husbandry department (AHD), popularly known as the fodder scam.
According to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, 90 percent of government funds were embezzled from Jharkhand. A total of 61 cases were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.
The top politicians against whom trials in fodder scam cases are under way in Jharkhand include Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra. The special CBI court has already convicted and awarded sentences to three IAS officials.
Besides these two major scams, there is a bitumen scam estimated to be worth Rs.110 crore, a rural electrification scam that could be anywhere between Rs.300-400 crore, and scams in road construction, land and others.
Nearly eight serving IAS officers are facing graft charges.
Jharkhand seems to be the first state where six former ministers and an ex-chief minister are facing graft cases – all in the Koda case.
The irony is there for everyone to see. Despite boasting of 40 percent of the country’s mineral reserves, tribal dominated Jharkhand remains largely poor. Only 12 percent of the land is irrigated, it produces only half of the food grains it consumes and more than 70 percent women are suffering from malnutrition.
