The State will probe all transactions amounting to more than Rs 50 lakh each since demonetisation on November 8. Out of 108 such transactions in Uttarakhand of which most pertain to land and properties, 72 had taken place in Dehradun, said Chief Minister Harish Rawat while addressing the media at the secretariat.
The probe will ascertain whether the transactions were fair or dubious as the Chief Minister said that he suspects that some of these may be linked to certain persons who may have had prior knowledge of the demonetisation move.
While eliciting focus on effects of demonetisation, the CM also strongly rejected statements being made by Central Ministers regarding Central fund allocation and its utilisation by the State, stressing that these were politically motivated and factually inaccurate statements.
Rawat said that under special plan assistance (SPA) and cent per cent centrally funded schemes, the State was to receive Rs 2254 crore from the Centre of which the State has received only Rs 905 crore yet. “Adding Rs 500 crore to this amount, the State Government spent total Rs 1,400 crore on these works. Under the fully centrally sponsored scheme of scheduled caste post metric scholarship, the State was to receive Rs 160 crore from the centre out of which Rs 75 crore has been released so far. As far as presenting the utilisation certificate for works done is concerned, today union minister Mahesh Sharma himself said that Uttarakhand’s officials were better in submission of UCs compared to other States.”
He said that the State has sought Rs 1,751 crore in total from the Centre for works under SPA (R), CSS(R) and food subsidy out of which the centre has released only Rs 731 crore. In food subsidy alone, the Centre has to reimburse Rs 570 crore to the State. On the other hand, the CM said that in an informal meet with Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday, he had thanked the union minister for including Badrinath in the Prasad Yojana and including places in Uttarakhand including Ashwamedhshala, lakhamandal and Sattal among others in the Mahabharat circuit for tourism. Rawat further said that since demonetisation on November 8 a total of 108 transactions—mostly land/property deals—each amounting to more than Rs 50 lakh had been recorded in the State. “We have directed a probe into these land deals to ascertain whether they were conducted in the natural manner or not,” he said.
Regarding the impact of demonetisation on Uttarakhand, the Chief Minister said that in the post-demonetisation period there had been a drop of about 32 per cent in land-building property registration with a drop of about 35 per cent in the fee earned from the same. There has been a 21 per cent drop in the revenue from mining. There has been an 18 per cent drop in the turnovers of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam. He informed that he had written to the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley about the problems resulting from demonetisation in Uttarakhand while also suggesting necessary improvements.