Calling Jamshedpur a ‘City of irregularities’, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Roy said that the CAG report tabled in the Assembly on Thursday was really a serious matter and needs to be investigated properly by the State Government.
The report has detected that Tata Steel and DVC had sub-leased lands in an unauthorised way causing a revenue loss of Rs 4,400 crore to the State exchequer. Roy was talking to media persons at his residence here on Friday.
“It is really a serious matter and the onus is on the Government now, which can take direct steps on the basis of the CAG report or forward the matter to the Public Accounts Committee of Jharkhand Assembly,” said Roy. The report given by the CAG is adequate on the basis of which the Government could taken any decision, he added.
Roy also added that the Government itself has more facts than the CAG report as the then Deputy Commissioner of Jamshedpur Amitabh Kaushal had also submitted a detailed report to the revenue department, but even after the passage of more than one and half years, it was pending with the State Government, he added.
“The report was submitted during the tenure of Hemant Soren Governement,” he said.
Roy further added there was nothing new in the CAG report as he had already raised the issue in the House in the year 2008, on the basis of which a committee was also formed but the Government changed in the year 2009 following which the committee lost its significance.
“CAG is saying that the matter of sublease was illegal. Till 2005 only 10-12 people were subleased but after 2005 as many as 65 parties were subleased, which I had raised in the Assembly 2008,” Roy said.
later, Arjun Munda became CM in 2013 and formed a committee headed by Debashish Gupta, which submitted its report after investigations and suggested that the sublease was not right. If the Government really wants to do something, it should auction instead of subleasing it, Roy said. “I had written to the government that there must be mid-term appraisal of the agreement signed with the Government, which is generally not done practically,” said the minister.
The CAG has given an indication and the Government must act accordingly on the basis of this indication. “The detection made by CAG is just an indication, while the canvas is actually large,” said the minister.