Biswajeet Banerjee | The News Minute | July 16, 2014 | 12.47 pm IST
A non-government organization has alleged that relatives and associates of Samajwadi Party have obtained a disproportionately large amount of a central subsidy.
According to a press release by Bondhu Mahal, 34 of 58 beneficiaries of the central Horticulture Misssion were people connected to SP leaders. The organization said that it had received the information through an RTI query. Under the scheme, a grant of Rs 1.5 lakh is given to poor farmers to purchase tractors and auxiliary agricultural equipment.
The organization said that the beneficiaries include the mother of a powerful senior minister, relatives of ministers in Akhilesh Yadav government and acquaintance of ruling party law makers.
The scheme is meant to help poor farmers to procure machinery. The Government claims that the beneficiaries were provided subsidy “on first-come-first-served” basis under the scheme in 2012-13 financial year.
The list of beneficiary includes:
Virendra Yadav, son of cabinet minister Kailash Yadav. He got the full amount of Rs. 1.5 lakh.
Manjul Raje, mother of Kunda MLA and Food and Civil Supply Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya. She too recived the full amount.
Ranjit Singh Judeo, a former minister in Congress regime. He has received a subsidy of Rs 60,000 to purchase a tractor.
Deepak Agarwal, a resident of Hathras, is brother-in-law of SP Sadabad MLA Devendra Agarwal. He purchased a tractor and other farm equipments with a subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh from the government.
Bihari Singh, a resident of Sevarai village in Ghazipur district, is a cousin of Tourism Minister Om Prakash Singh. He owns a rice mill, a harvester machine and got the subsidy to purchase farm equipments.
Rajiv Chauhan, is an SP leader in Mainpuri – parliamentary constituency of Mulayam Singh Yadav. His mother is chairman of Sultanganj block development committee.
The list also includes relatives and brothers of Samajwadi Party leaders who claimed that they were poor farmers to get the subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh. The officials at the Horticulture Directorate said that they have no role in disbursement of subsidy as the final call is taken by the government.
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry defended Government decision saying only deserving candidates got subsidy. “Being relative of minister or legislator does not make one rich. We have many legislators who are poor and need government support,” he said
BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that development has come to a naught. The poor are deprived of the benefits of Government schemes. Instead, the high and mighty enjoy government patronage. This has widened the chasm between poor and the rich, Patahk said.