Facts belie Gholap’s claims on contract dates

NASHIK, MAY 23: Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap has again put himself in trouble by distributing a court order, which instead of su...

NASHIK, MAY 23: Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap has again put himself in trouble by distributing a court order, which instead of supporting his claims, goes against him.

The Copies of extracts of Bombay High Court order circulated by him on Wednesday have revealed anomalies in his statement over the alleged irregularities in the purchase of powerlooms by the Mahatma Phule Backward Class Development Corporation.

Gholap had claimed that the deal had been struck by the Corporation before the Manohar Joshi Government assumed power. However, the court papers reveal that the corporation placed 21 orders between March 23, 1995 and July 7, 1995 for the supply of 2,790 powerlooms for Rs. 10.20 crore, during the tenure of the present government.

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Gholap had stated that an inquiry by the Anti-Corruption Bureau had been ordered on receipt of complaints in 1995. No action has yet been taken, though he claimed that the probe had been completed. He had stated that the Khadi and Village Industries Board had examined the powerlooms supplied by Shivangi Industries, Bharuch (Gujarat).

He said the board certified that the quality of the powerlooms was satisfactory. However, the court papers reveal that some officials of the Maharashtra State Powerloom Corporation Ltd (an undertaking of the State Government) had visited the factory (instead of examining the powerlooms actually supplied to the beneficiaries).

They had expressed satisfaction over the quality of equipment produced, in its technical report dated April 18, 1995.

The court had dismissed the writ petition in June 1996 on grounds that none of the beneficiaries had moved the court and that the petition had been filed incorporating false facts. The petition had been filed by a social worker V D Gadkar from Kalachowki, Mumbai. The court order had been passed after an affidavit-in-reply filed by the corporation.

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Meanwhile, local Shiva Sainiks staged a rasta rako’ today, blocking the Mumbai-Agra national highway and the Nashik-Pune highway to condemn veteran social worker Anna Hazare for launching a smear campaign against Gholap.

Around noon, hundreds of Sainiks, mainly women led by the Nashik district chief of the Sena’s Mahila Aghadi, Satyabhama Gadekar, squatted at Dwarka circle, where the Mumbai-Agra national highway and the Nashik-Pune highway intersect. About 100 women were arrested by the Bhadrakali police.

The Sainiks shouted slogans against Hazare for making baseless allegations against the State ministers.