Daddaji was cremated with state honour. Cremation was also attended by the district collector and SP besides huge crowd which was part of the funeral process. Thus the lockdown norm was violated by the two officials besides a massive crowd. Besides this episode lockdown violation touched the figure of five thousand in Bhopal alone. On Tuesday alone cops registered 150 new cases against people violating the order. Earlier on Sunday, as many as 126 cases were registered against violators. The accused were booked under Section 188, 269A And 270 of the IPC. In some cases sections of the National Disaster Management Act were also imposed on the violators.

Cops took the help of drone cameras to book violators, especially in the containment areas and seized vehicles of those found roaming on the streets without any valid reasons and registered cases against them under the Motor Vehicle Act. Police also booked people found loitering on the streets without wearing masks.

Violation pose serious threat of spread of Corona virus. These violations have resulted in the disproportional increase in the Corona cases in Madhya Pradesh.

While the state is struggling to face the calamity of Covid-19 several unrelated controversies of political nature are taking much time both of government and opposition. Accusing the erstwhile Kamal Nath led Congress government of perpetuating “the biggest scam of the century” in the name of farm loan waiver, Shivraj Singh government said it will probe the irregularities.

Home and Health minister Narottam Mishra alleged that Congress government cheated the farmers in the name of loan waiver as debts of several farmers were not waived off and blank certificates were given to them.

“Congress farm loan waiver is the biggest scam of the century. Farmers were given blank cheques and certificates of loan waiver which do not have names or amount to be given and signed by former chief minister Kamal Nath., No money was transferred to the bank accounts of the farmers in several districts which is a fraud and cheating and calls for probe” alleged Mishra.

He said that except Jhabua and Chhindwara, Rs. two lakh loan has not been waived off anywhere in the state. The certificates are fake which hints at a bigger scam. The group of ministers will take action after receiving details of the loan waiver scheme, he said.

“Even Congress MLA Laxman Singh had questioned the then government on the farm loan waiver scheme. Before quitting the party former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had also raised the issue of non-payment of debts and irregularities in the loan waiver. This is a big fraud and we will probe the matter” said Mishra.

BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agarwal said, “The state government is taking action based on complaints against irregularities and corruption in several schemes launched by the previous government”.

Ahead of assembly election in 2018, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had announced farm loan waiver to benefit farmers in Madhya Pradesh, The idea clicked and turned out to be a major game changer with Congress edging out the BJP which ruled the state for 15 years. The then Chief Minister Kamal Nath had claimed that loan waiver will be implemented in phased manner. In the first phase farm loans up to Rs. 50,000 were waived off benefiting 23 lakh farmers. The second phase was to include farmers who had debts up to Rs. 2 lakh but the decision could not be implemented due to fall of the Congress government.

Denying BJP allegations Jitu Patwari, Chief spokesman of the Congress said “The erstwhile Congress government headed by chief minister Kamal Nath completed two phases of the Jai Kisan Fasal Wrin Maafi Yogna of waving farm loans up to Rs. 2 lakh. It benefited a total 27 lakh farmers and the third phase was to commence from June 1.”

“This BJP government has come through encroachment via the back door,’ Patwari said.

“But the mandate of the common men and farmers was for the farmloan waiver, which was promised by the Congress party before the elections. Since people’s mandate was for an waiver scheme, the present government must fulfill the promise” he argued.

“BJP had no interest ever in loan waiver scheme. It never figured in their policy. Not just Narottam Mishra, the state’s agriculture minister Kamal Patel said an FIR should be registered against former chief minister Kamal Nath and yet, Kamal Patel’s wife Aarti Patel also benefited from the scheme. Former agriculture minister Sachin Yadav gave evidence of the same with documents” said Patwari.

Congress claimed the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s brother Rohit Singh Chouhan is also a beneficiary of the scheme. “The BJP government is conspiring how to stop the loan waiver scheme and all these allegations hurled is the ground work for that. I want to assure farmers of MP that if the Chouhan government does not continue with the loan waiver scheme, then Congress party will take the matter to the court” he said.

The BJP government has served notices on the former Congress Ministers to vacate the official bungalows still occupied by them. They have been told to vacate within 14 days and if they don’t do so their belongings in the bungalows will be thrown out and will be auctioned. In some cases notices have been pasted on the gate of bungalows.

The former Ministers’ argument is that they are prepared to vacate their bungalows but the problem is that they can’t reach Bhopal because of lockdown. The moment lockdown is lifted they will not take a second before vacating their houses. They also point out that when their government was in the office they did not ask former BJP Ministers to vacate the official bungalows occupied by them. The present BJP government’s action is nothing but vindictive in nature and shows they can go to any extend in harassing their political rivals. (IPA Service)