Babus may not like this new `moneyback' policy

Babus may not like this new `moneyback' policy
PRAFULLA MARPAKWAR

MUMBAI, JULY 18: A high level probe conducted by the Democratic Front government has revealed that though a section of a Cabinet members of the erstwhile Sena-BJP government and a senior bureaucrats had taken advance towards their foreign tour, none of them had settled their accounts.

``For the campaign of the Agro Advantage Maharashtra three ministers and six bureaucrats had taken an advance of Rs 32 lakh, but so far none of them has submitted their accounts. We have ordered recovery of the amount from them,'' Agriculture Minister Ranjeet Deshmukh said.

The then Minister for Agriculture Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil had led a delegation to Europe, USA and Tel Aviv to organise roads shows in these countries mainly to attract foreign investment. The other members of the delegation were the then Minister of State for Agriculture Harshawardhan Patil, Minister for Horticulture Shobhatai Phadanvis, Special Commissioner Ajay Dua, the then Agriculture Secretary Umeshchandra Sarangi, now Divisional Commissioner, Pune, Suresh V Joshi, the then Dairy Development Secretary Suresh Joshi, now transport secretary, the then Water Conservation Secretary V C Kanadey, now secretary, Maharashtra State Electricity Board, Aziz Khan, the then Dairy Development Commissioner Ujwal Uke, now head of the Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation.

Vikhe Patil had taken an advance of Rs 6.82 lakh, Harshavardhan Patil (Rs 5.30 lakh), Shobhatai Phadanvis (Rs 65145), Ajay Dua (Rs 4.73 lakh), U C Sarangi (Rs 5.42 lakh), S U Joshi (Rs 2.56 lakh), V C Kanadey (Rs 1.95 lakh), Aziz Khan (Rs 65055) and Ujwal Uke (Rs 3.89 lakh).

``The conference was held three years ago. But while these people have not settled their accounts so far, the government is receiving fresh bills from advertising agencies, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and five-star hotels in the metropolis for the same purpose,'' a senior official said.

In view of the specific allegations, a probe was conducted into the convention. ``Since it was confirmed that bills towards advance taken for foreign tour were not settled, it was decided to seek legal opinion. Notices as well and reminders were sent to all the nine. But when there was no response we decided to recover the amount,'' the official said.

While recovery notices to the bureaucrats have been sent by the general administration department, for the erstwhile cabinet members, the notices have been issued by Ranjeet Deshmukh.

The official said one of the contention raised by a former Minister was that they are entitled for a daily allowance ranging from US $ 250 to 300, while the Union Finance Ministry has informed the state government that they are not entitled for any such daily allowance.