RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Rajbhawan has sought a probe and a follow-up action into the alleged massive irregularities regarding the purchase of Mini Sky Lift machines (used as truck mounted) by the department of public administration for its use in various municipal bodies across the state.
This is the first directive by the Rajbhawan after the assembly polls into any alleged fraudulent deal in the government purchase, carried out during the Congress regime from 2018 to 2022. There were at least 225 sky lift machines (the figure actually could be more) supplied by only one company Vandana Agro Industries for various nagar panchayats and nagar palikas.
The details accessed under the Right to Information (RTI) revealed the purchasing was done at a price more than double the existing market rates. I submitted the details to the Governor urging for a probe”, said advocate Dinesh Kumar Soni, who is also an RTI activist.
Soni further requested the Rajbhawan to place instruction for registering criminal offence against the government officials for “conniving” with the supplier company leading to huge loss to the state in the “corrupt deal”.
“The given mini sky lift machine, which is available in the market at a price of around Rs 5 lakh, was supplied to the state government at over Rs 14 lakh each. Such scam is not possible without the connivance of the then urban development minister and the officials. The quality of the many supplied machine appears inferior. The appeal was made to the Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan to register a FIR,” Soni added.