DEHRADUN: BJP today accused Congress-led Uttarakhand government of being embroiled in scams worth crores of rupees in its Excise and Mining departments and posed ten questions to it saying if the party did not get satisfactory answers to them soon it will be forced to go to court.
Hitting out at the ruling Congress for asking BJP to produce the original CD of the sting operation exposing corruption in the Excise department and involvement of highly placed officials in it, BJP General Secretary Prakash Pant asked why the state government did not send a copy of the sting CD available with Governor K K Paul for forensic tests.
He also asked why the state government did not interrogate the person shown in the CD having a conversation purportedly with Chief Minister Harish Rawat's former secretary and IAS officer Mohammad Shahid besides asking it to explain the reasons behind demolition of a portion of a structure owned by the man who claims to have made the CD.
Pant also wanted to know why no action was initiated against Shahid when prima facie he was found guilty in the sting CD episode.
He also asked the state government to explain why it ordered just a routine enquiry into the CD episode avoiding a full-fledged probe into a scam of this level under an act.
The state government should also explain why despite objections raised by the Excise Commissioner and the Finance department, the Chief Minister decided to allocate liquor licenses in bulk to the Mandi Parishad without taking the state cabinet into confidence over a change in excise policy and making it effective for the next five years, Pant said.
Alleging a scam in the mining department, the BJP leader also asked how private parties were allocated mining leases on private land without a change in the mining policy.
In violation of the provisions on allocation of mining leases on private land in various instances more than one lease was given to one individual, he said asking the state government to explain the anomaly.
Seeking answers to these questions from the state government without delay, the BJP said if Rawat government did not come up with its answers soon the party will be left with no option but to go to court.