CHENNAI: Alleging that Rs 500 crore was swindled through distribution of Pongal gift hampers by the State government, AIADMK has approached the Madras High Court with a plea to order a CBI inquiry. Former MLA and AIADMK’s legal advisory committee member IS Inbadurai moved a writ petition in this regard.
The petition stated that complaints of poor quality of edible products were raised across the State and to the dismay of all, a dead lizard and a used syringe were found in the gift hamper packs in Tiruvallur and Kanyakumari districts. In another place, only 17 products were given in the bag instead of 21.
Alleging that there was a nexus between the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, officials of the department and suppliers, it claimed a whopping Rs 1,296 crore was allocated for providing the gift to 2.15 crore people.
“Considering that in many cases, several items were missing from the pack and extremely poor quality of products were given, this by itself demonstrates that there was an unholy collusion between the suppliers and the State whereby more than Rs 500 crore was swindled,” the petition alleged.