Patna, December 6
Close on the heels of the decision by the state vigilance commission to bring the brother-in-law of Lalu Prasad, Sadhu Yadav, in the ambit of the probe into the multi-crore flood relief scam last year, two more bouncers have been hurled on the already beleagured RJD supremo.
This is despite the fact that the Union Railways Minister got a reprieve from the Patna High Court yesterday which granted him regular bail in connection with the disproportionate assets case against him and his wife amounting to worth Rs 48 lakhs currently under probe by the CBI.
If the Deputy Chief Minister of NDA government in Bihar and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi is to be believed, the state government was contemplating ordering a probe into the alleged irregularities in purchase of blankets worth Rs 30 crore by the previous RJD government meant for the distribution of the same among below the poverty line people in 2002.
The proposed probe, once decided, is likely to be handed over to the state vigilance commission.
According to Mr Modi, the then RJD government had constituted a committee headed by a senior IAS officer Amita Paul to go into the charges relating to the purchase of the blankets, but later it allegedly shelved the recommendations of the committee for a vigilance probe.
Mr Modi said that a final decision to give the nod for a probe into the same was expected to be taken after scrutinising the files recommending a vigilance probe to book the culprits.
Sources disclosed that poor quality blankets available for Rs 90-95 in the market were purchased for Rs 135 to 140 per piece at that time.
In another development, council for protection of Public Rights and Welfare recently filed a PIL in the Patna High Court seeking a CBI probe into the Rs 1,000 crore “Operation Blackboard scam”.
After the submission of the PIL, council secretary and lawyer M.P. Gupta pointed out that a House sub-committee of the state legislative Assembly, chaired by Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, had made a similar recommendation earlier.
The Operation Blackboard scheme was launched by then Congress government at Centre in 1987 headed by the late Rajiv Gandhi who once regretted with his reported remarks that “for every one rupee earmarked for
development, only 15 paisa percolated down at the grassroots”.
The PIL submitted that under the scheme, the Bihar government was supposed to receive Rs 8,400 crore for providing books and
stationery to children living below the poverty line (BPL).
The scheme also envisaged blackboards and teaching materials for schools set up between 1987 and 2000, an era covered by the Congress, Janata Dal and RJD governments in Bihar.
According to the PIL, the state government could draw only Rs 1,130 crore from the Centre for the said
period. Out of this Rs 1,000 crore was allegedly misappropriated. The PIL petition quoted the report of the
Assembly sub-committee headed by Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha.
The House sub-committee was constituted by then Assembly Speaker, now the state Congress president who was defeated at the just concluded assembly polls from Kahalgaon, Sadanand Singh.
The petitioner alleged that around 60 firms from Bihar and other states were involved in the misappropriation of the said sum.
