Armed with information gathered under the Right to Information Act (RTI) and provisions of the Gujarat Service (conduct) Rules, leader of opposition, Shaktisinh Gohil accused the state administration of illegally collecting funds.
Armed with information gathered under the Right to Information Act (RTI) and provisions of the Gujarat Service (conduct) Rules, leader of opposition, Shaktisinh Gohil accused the state administration of illegally collecting funds.
Quoting rules 12 and 13 of the Service Rules, Gohil said, "No funds or gifts can be collected by the government in any form directly or indirectly. But, violating these rules, money is collected in the name of fairs and festivals like Garib Kalyan Mela, Krushi Mahotsav, Patang Utsav and Navratri Mahotsav. This money never gets deposited in the government account and is spent arbitrarily without following any transparent and rational procedure like tendering."
Talking about the double standards of the government, Gohil said, "On one hand the ruling government breaks the laws, but on the other, if a sarpanch commissions work of even a petty amount of Rs5,000 without public notice, he is suspended and charged for not following transparency."
"The chief minister himself accepted cheques amounting to Rs50 lakh and Rs25 lakh from Welspun Group in December 2005 for Shardotsav. Later, the then collector received a cheque of Rs35 lakh for a government programme. The chief minister illegally received funds from Welspun Group and sold government land to the group at a throwaway price. This example unearths the chief minister's chain of corruption," Gohil said.
However, the state government dismissed the charges, and challenged the opposition leader to prove his allegations.
"Gujarat is progressing under chief minister Narendra Modi's leadership with participation of six crore Gujaratis. The Opposition is resorting to spreading blatant lies in desperation," state government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas, said.
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