Agents mint money from NCP’s forms for slum people

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) distributed forms to slum-dwellers for carrying out a survey. Although, the party distributed the forms free of cost, some agents are minting money by charging money from the poor. Hundreds of slum-dwellers had to return disappointed as there was no one to receive their forms at both the addresses mentioned in the form.

Mehul Moladiya, a resident of Paldi, felt cheated when he came to know that Rs1,500 spent by his aunt went in the air. “A rickshaw driver came to our area and promised that the NCP will give us homes. So my aunt bought three forms for Rs1,500,” said Moladiya.

The NCP has distributed more than 3,000 forms in the city. Many of them were sold to the poor by promising homes. Moreover, hundreds of slum-dwellers had to return disappointed as both the offices mentioned in the form - NCP’s office at Ashram Road and NCP corporator’s office at AMC - were found closed.

“Although we have not paid any money for the form, many a people have paid up to Rs3,000 per form,” said Baldev Parmar, a slum-dweller from Gomtipur area, who had come to submit the form at0 AMC’s office.

Although the NCP issued forms to the slum-dwellers to undertake a survey, insiders in the party questioned its method. “If one needs to carry out a survey, then one has to visit the slums and not ask people to come to office,” said NCP sources.  Jayant Patel (Bosky), NCP president of Gujarat, also confirmed that he too received complaints about agents minting money in the name of the party.

He also accepted the technique used for survey was faulty and said that party was doing it for the first time and so errors were likely. However, he said that the party has stopped distributing forms for some time.

 “We are not asking for any money from slum-dwellers and we have also printed it on the form for survey,” he said.