Harish Rawat Orders Probe into Misappropriation of Disaster Funds

Dehradun: Uttarakhand government on Wednesday instituted a judicial probe into the alleged misappropriation of disaster relief funds in the state after the 2013 natural calamity which claimed thousands of lives, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue to lash out at the Harish Rawat dispensation for corruption.

Announcing the probe, Rawat also took a jibe at his predecessor Vijay Bahuguna, who is now with the BJP and was at the helm when disaster relief operations were carried out in the state. He said the saffron party should have conducted an in-house inquiry into the irregularities as the "entire family of executors of the alleged scam are now with them".

The Prime Minister had on Tuesday said at a rally that he was going to drag Uttarakhand out of the "bottomless pit of corruption in which it was languishing under the present regime".

Rawat also took strong exception to Modi's remarks that even a scooter with a capacity of five liters of oil could drink 35 liters of it, a reference to the alleged scam in relief funds.

The chief minister said though the alleged irregularities in the distribution of relief after 2013 tragedy had already been probed by a panel constituted by the state government, a judicial probe has been ordered into it after the PM's remarks.

"Though a probe committee headed by the then Chief Secretary had found no veracity in the allegations and given a clean chit to everyone involved in the massive relief operations, now that the PM has reiterated the charge we have asked retired Justice M S Chauhan of Chandigarh High Court to conduct a probe into the alleged irregularities and find out if there was any negligence on part of officials or any misappropriation of disaster relief funds," he told reporters at a press conference here.

Asked why he was not recommending a CBI probe into the allegations, Rawat said he had more faith in the judiciary and it was in his hands to order a judicial probe.

"It is now a general impression all over the country that the CBI is a tool in the hands of the Centre to settle scores with political adversaries. I have therefore more faith in our judicial institutions. Moreover ordering a judicial probe was in my hands whereas I would have had to look to central authorities for a CBI probe," he said.

Rawat said calamities strike all of a sudden and quick decisions have to be taken to deal with the situation, sometimes even at the cost of relaxing the rules and norms.

"However, we are ready for a judicial probe into any negligence on part of officials or misuse of funds," he said.

Rawat also accused the BJP of trying to grab credit for the all-weather chardham roads project inaugurated by the Prime Minister in Dehradun on Tuesday, saying the state government was very much part of the process of its launch.

"It is not BJP's brainchild as the party is trying to make it appear. We had conceived the project and consistently worked towards its early launch," he said.

However, he said he welcomed the launch of the project as the state stood to benefit from it in a big way "provided it is implemented in the manner promised".