State Cooperation Minister Subhash Deshmukh duped the central government’s National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP) of ₹24.81 crore by submitting forged documents, the Opposition alleged on Monday.
Opposition leaders made the accusation based on documents acquired through a Right to Information (RTI) application, copies of which are with The Hindu .
According to the documents, Mr. Deshmukh and his son Rohan, who is in charge of Lokmangal Multi-State Cooperative Society Ltd. in Solapur, obtained sanction for a subsidy under NADP in January for a milk powder production project. Mr. Deshmukh was the chairman of the society before becoming a cabinet minister.
The documents show that all certificates submitted by Lokmangal were fake. These included a consent letter from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, an order describing the plant site as non-agricultural land, a letter for industrial security and those from the Health and Public Works departments, a licence from the Food and Drug Administration, and a certificate from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.
They say the society does not have a single processing unit in Solapur, its centres at Karmala, Sangola and Mangalwedha are closed, and it does not even have a processing centre in Wadala in Mumbai as it has claimed.
‘Being protected’
On October 4, Solapur’s district dairy business development officer wrote to the regional dairy business development officer that every document submitted by Lokmangal society seeking sanction for the subsidy was either fake.
Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said, “Despite this, no action has been taken. Complaints have been made to the Solapur police and the State Agriculture Department… It seems he is being protected by the Chief Minister himself. He continues to be a minister despite all the cases and allegations against him.”
This is not the first controversy involving the minister. Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India barred Mr. Deshmukh’s Lokmangal Agro Industries Ltd., which runs a sugar mill in Solapur, from investing in the stock market until it repaid ₹74.82 crore to 4,751 farmers along with 15% interest as it illegally sold farmers’ shares.
After demonetisation, cash worth ₹92 lakh was seized from Mr. Deshmukh’s year, which he claimed was meant for payment to sugar factory workers. Also, the Solapur Municipal Corporation recently submitted a 26-page report to the Bombay High Court that the minister had constructed a bungalow illegally on a plot reserved for the fire brigade.
Mr. Deshmukh could not be reached for comment till the time of going to press.
