AAP alleged that Arjun Khotkar sold some 1,500 APMC shops at prices lower than market rates, causing the cooperative a huge loss, but ensuring a substantial cut for him
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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused Shiv Sena leader and minister of state Arjun Khotkar, of a scam worth Rs 500-crore in the Jalna Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC). The party has demanded Khotkar’s resignation.
AAP has demanded Arjun Khotkar’s resignation and want the CM and Governor to take action against him.
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AAP alleged that the minister had sold some 1,500 APMC shops at prices lower than market rates, thus causing the cooperative a huge loss, but ensuring a substantial cut (bribe) for him and his cronies. According to AAP, the average market price of these shops was Rs 40 lakh each but the deals were done for merely Rs 4-5 lakh and hence APMC got just Rs 75-cr instead of Rs 600-cr in shop sales. These transactions were not even registered in the Registrar’s office, the party alleged.
At a press conference on Wednesday, AAP's regional spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon quoted extensively from audit reports and documents procured under the RTI as to how the shops were sold in violation of rules. She also alleged Khotkar-led APMC of illegal construction and rampant corruption.
"Shops are sub let by the people who got them on a long lease and most shops are sold to the third party. Khotkar who controls APMC for the past nine years has benefitted a lot because at least 250 shops were allotted to his kin, friends and supporters,” said Menon.
Collecting a bribe
Video clips of merchants who do business in Jalna APMC were shown to media, in which the modus operandi is explained in detail. According to merchants, the shops were transferred illegally to buyers by seeking a hefty bribe by Khotkar and his cronies. The merchants alleged that Khotkar’s cronies were collecting a bribe of Rs 3 lakh daily from farmers and traders, who brought their goods for selling to the market. "Market cess is not collected officially, but a bribe is sought in cash to let them do business," said Menon.
Menon said that the APMC had shops that sold anything but farm produce. “It has shops selling textiles, automobiles, steel and furniture. This is in violation of APMC rules,” she said.
AAP felt that the scam was detrimental to the Sena’s much-publicized pro-farmer initiative in Marathwada where thousands of farmers have committed suicide because of agrarian crisis. The party said that the Sena leaders were cheating poor farmers instead of helping them out.
Take action
AAP will petition the Chief Minister and Governor for seeking action against the minister and if they act, the party will move the Bombay High Court.
Efforts to contact Khotkar were futile as his mobile was switched off.
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