Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], March 6 (HBTV): Rajasthan Minister Madan Dilawar has accused the previous Ashok Gehlot-led government of involvement in a massive INR 1,705 crore scam related to the mid-day meal scheme and inflated student numbers at madrasas.

Speaking to ANI, Dilawar said, ‘One scam involves mid-day meals. This was a scam of crores of rupees.’

According to Dilawar, the mid-day meal scheme, which was supposed to provide meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic, was marred by fraud.

‘During the COVID-19 pandemic, students were not provided mid-day meals as promised. They had stated that meals should be given to students,’ he said.

He elaborated, ‘They decided to distribute the meals cumulatively and invited contracts for the same. Confed was among the interested parties, but its bid was rejected despite being a government agency. Instead, the contract was awarded to the state government’s Consumers Cooperative Wholesale Stores Limited (Confed), which then sublet it to another party. That party, in turn, sublet it again before the materials were finally purchased.’

Dilawar alleged that food was procured at inflated prices, citing an instance where dal, which was available from NAFED at INR 50 per kilogram, was purchased at a significantly higher cost.

‘We have found over 17 lakh packets of food in Jaisalmer, yet official records claim students received these meals. This is all a lie,’ he stated.

The minister further alleged that the food agency confirmed that less than 60 per cent of the allocated material was actually procured.

‘This is an INR 1,705 crore scam. We spoke with the food agency, and they confirmed that not even 60 per cent of the material was taken from them,’ Dilawar said.

He also claimed that a previous investigation into the matter was cancelled and announced that a new committee would be formed to thoroughly probe the case.

Dilawar also alleged another scam involving madrasas, claiming that the student count was inflated.

‘As far as madrasas are concerned, the total number of students was inflated from 1,30,000 to 2,08,000 on paper. This is another scam worth crores, which took place during the Congress regime,’ he said.

He vowed to conduct a thorough investigation, stating, ‘We will go into the depths of the matter. We will identify the culprits, no matter how powerful they are. We hope the investigation committee submits its report at the earliest.’

(ANI)