An NDA member in the Lok Sabha today demanded an inquiry by Enforcement Directorate into the purchase of 35 Sugar cooperative mills in Maharshtra worth Rs 10,000 crore at a "pittance" by some private firms.
Raising the issue during zero hour, Raju Shetty of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana suggested more than a scam in the purchase. Maharashtra boasts of maximum number of sugar mills in the cooperative sector.
Noting that the cooperative sector has fallen prey to corruption, nepotism and politics, he said the sugar mills, which have fallen on bad days, were sold for a mere Rs 1076 crore when actually they should have been sold at prices ten times more.
Shetty said a sugar mill is set up at a cost of Rs 300 crore but the mills were auctioned at prices between Rs 15 crore and Rs 50 crore each.
He said the private firms which bought these mills should be probed by the ED to find out who were in their board of directors, who are the shareholders and from where they have got funds to buy the mills.
Shetty, who represents a constituency in the sugar rich Western Maharashtra, said a thorough probe into the transactions would unearth the black money. Before bringing black money stashed abroad, government should focus on the black money within, he asserted.
