RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, April 16: Had the Reserve Bank of India not given strict instruction to the State treasury that it would not make any payment after 11pm on March 31, 2022, Health Minister Banna Gupta and 59 members of his ministerial cell would have got corona incentive against the norms set by the state government.
A day after Health Minister Banna Gupta pleaded innocence in the Covid incentive scam, Independent MLA Saryu Roy, seeking dismissal of the health minister, today explained how the minister’s bid to get Covid incentives for himself and his personal staff was foiled by the RBI.
“The bill for the Covid incentive amount of Health Minister Banna Gupta and other 59 employees of his ministerial cell reached the Government’s “Project Building Treasury” from the Health Department on 31 March 2022 at 9 PM for payment. The Treasury has approved the payment. This payment went to the computerized PMU (Project Management Unit) of the Finance Department of Jharkhand Government to send it to the bank account of the minister and other employees,” the first paragraph of Roy’s statement reads explaining how the minister attempted withdrawal.
The second paragraph reads how the minister’s attempt failed.
“To curb the March robbery, the Reserve Bank of India had given a strict instruction that it would not allow any payment after 11 pm and the Reserve Bank closed its server at 11 pm on March 31, 2022. Meanwhile, due to the increase in the burden on the PMU of the Jharkhand government due to the plethora of payable bills coming from all over the state, its server slowed down and the payment of the minister and his personal staff got stuck. Incentive money could not be transferred from the government treasury to the bank account of Minister Banna Gupta and other employees. It lapsed,” the second paragraph reads.
Explaining how the Reserve Bank of India guideline helped save March loot in the last moment, Roy exposed the pretended mode of the minister in the third paragraph.
“Justifying the proverb Lachari Ka Naam Mahatma Gandhi, Banna Gupta ji is now saying that he will not take the payment of incentive money on moral grounds. Since the financial year ended on March 31, and the incentive amount sent by the health department to the bank account of Banna ji and others has lapsed and thus even if Banna ji tries, money will not reach their bank accounts. Thus his announcement to cancel his earlier order is also rhetoric. He tried hard to get the incentive amount and his officers kept rubbing their nose in front of the treasury personnel but the incentive amount could not go to their bank account due to delay in sending bills, slowing down the server of the state government, and shutting down of the server of the Reserve Bank after 11 pm. Due to the change of financial year from 1st April 2022, this amount lapsed. The minister’s attempt to steal from the government vault remained unsuccessful,” the third paragraph of Roy’s statement reads.
Roy has reiterated that minister Gupta is involved in corruption.
“All the files related to the matter have been signed by Banna in the capacity of the Health Minister. His signature is also on the file of the Health Department being sent to the treasury for payment of incentive bills. Therefore, his criminal conspiracy is proved in this case. He cannot escape from this financial crime even if he wants. His snobbery and misrepresentation cannot get him out of punishment,” Roy further said.
Roy’s statement indicates how difficult it will be for the minister to get rid of falsehood.
“One conspiracy these people can do is to make copies of bills disappear from the treasury by pressurizing the finance department of the government. By opening the Health Department’s office on a holiday on April 14, with the intention of tampering with the file, they have tried to make the proof of sending the bill from the department to the state treasury disappear from the health department’s file. But by doing so they are committing another unforgivable crime. They cannot erase the proof of going to PMU even if they want to. This is not possible only by putting pressure on the Treasury Officer. Evidence of this unsuccessful attempt to make payment is completely safe. I have made public yesterday a circular in this regard sent by the Joint Secretary of the Health Department to the Office of the Inspector General of Accounts,” Roy explained.
