Kamal Nath government's clean chit to Chauhan govt in plantation 'Scam' has Congress up in arms

NEW DELHI: Was there a scam in the Rs 499 Crore worth plantation drive of 7 Crore saplings in a single day by the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government in Madhya Pradesh in 2017, as alleged by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh during his Narmada Yatra before elections? The Kamal Nath government does not seem to make up its mind on this with its Finance Minister now giving Chauhan a clean chit but his Congress party is rejecting it.

“There is no evidence available to say that corruption was done in the plantation drive to achieve a Guinness Book World Record. I also want to specify that the plantation drove could not make it to the Guinness Book of World Records,” MP Finance Minister Tarun Bhanot said in the state assembly on Wednesday. As BJP MLA’s watched on in glee, this sparked a furore amongst Congress MLAs who slammed their own government for such a clean chit, not lodging an FIR and carrying out no proper probe in the matter since coming to power.

Kunal Chaudhary, the Congress MLA from Kalakapil and Vinay Saxena, the Congress MLA from Jabalpur, were the first to raise the banner of revolt. “90 percent of the saplings were stolen. Did the make it to the Guinness Book of World Records? A visit by the forest minister to one small area of Betul revealed massive irregularities and wastage of public money. Only 15% of the saplings were found alive in Betul – this is a straight case of corruption. Why don’t you get it probed?” Chaudhary asked, as per the assembly proceedings reviewed by ET.

MP’s Public Health minister, Sukhdev Panse, then rocked the boat further. “Corruption was carried out under the nose of the then government,” Panse said. Congress MLA Vinay Saxena asked why his government has not acted against the erstwhile ministers of the four departments who had carried out the plantation drive. “Only 2-3 officials in Betul have been suspended. Is that proper?” Saxena asked. BJP’s leader of the house, Gopal Bhargava, then rubbed it in saying the MP government in the last session had already given them a clean chit.

Bhanot then finally had to relent and promise a probe to be done within one month. “I, along with three other ministers, will carry out a thorough probe. We four ministers will count each of the 7 crore saplings in one month,” Bhanot assured the house. The last on this ‘scam’ is still to be heard.