Soren orders action against officials in blanket scam
RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has ordered departmental and punitive action against officials suspected to be involved in the alleged blanket procurement scam worth crores in 2017-18.
The scam involves diversion of crores of rupees meant to procure over 9 lakh blankets for distribution among the poor and alleged discrepancies in procurement and transport of related goods from Haryana by officials in Jharkhand Silk Textile and Handicraft Development Corporation Limited, popularly known as Jharcraft.
“The CM has given his nod to the proposal for departmental and penal action against officials involved in blanket procurement scam in Jharcraft after taking the latest update from Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the matter,” a PRD department official said on Monday.
The matter came to light in 2018 during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rule in the state, and a probe was ordered following a complaint received by the then chief secretary.
“At that time, the development commissioner directed the department secretary to probe the matter. An audit was then done by the Jharkhand Auditor General. The top auditor has put forth discrepancies in procurement of blankets. Later, the then Jharcraft MD submitted a report in which the discrepancies were accepted. In its report, Jharcraft identified and named people behind the scam,” an official said.
The matter was later handed over to the ACB after Soren took over as the chief minister in December 2019.
Reacting to the development, Jharkhand BJP chief and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash said law should take it own course, but impartially. “All kinds of investigation is welcome if any discrepancy is found. But, it should.not be done for political vendetta,” Prakash said.