Lok Ayukta lends ear to Congress on Uttar Pradesh mills’ deal

LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) Justice N.K. Mehrotra has assured the Congress of looking into its allegations of a scam involving the sale of four state-owned sugar mills at throwaway prices, a party leader said Saturday.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh said here “the Lok Ayukta has assured us that he would start hearing on our complaint from next week itself”.

A five-page complaint signed by Singh, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Congress legislature party (CLP) leader in the state assembly Pramod Tiwari, among others, was handed over to the Lok Ayuktya earlier Saturday.

Others who signed the complaint included CLP leader in the legislative council Naseeb Pathan, former chief minister Ram Naresh Yadav, UPCC spokesman Subodh Srivastava and UPCC Farmers’ Cell chief V.M. Singh.

Giving a background on the setting up of the mills originally under the private sector and the circumstances under which these were taken over by the government, the complaint sought to draw the Lok Ayukta’s attention to the “systematic manner in which the mills were transferred to handpicked industrial houses for a song”.

It alleged that two of the mills were given away to two different companies owned by the same industrialist, who had already been given prime contracts for sale of liquor. The industrialist was also given contracts for supplying nutritional foods under the mid-day meal scheme in the entire state.

The complaint alleged that the biggest of these mills at Amroha with real estate and inventories worth more than Rs.250 crore had been sold for mere Rs.17.01 crore.

The Chandpur sugar mill was given away for Rs.90 crore while its assets were valued at more than Rs.200 crore, the Congress complaint said.

It added that two other mills at Jarwal Road in Bahraich and Siswa Bazar mill in Gorakhpur were sold for Rs.26 crore and Rs.34 crore, respectively, when their actual worth was at least three times more.

Both these mills were also stated to have made handsome profits of Rs.15 crore and Rs.30 crore, respectively, in 2008-2009.

Flaying Chief Minister Mayawati for the dubious deals, Digvijay Singh said: “The sale of these mills at gross undervalued prices is a pointer to an unholy nexus between the government and the handpicked bidders.”