Vigilance Dept holds videography of machinery, instruments

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 20

In the Rs 2,000-crore Surajpur Cement Factory embezzlement case, the Haryana Vigilance Department held the videography of the machinery and other instruments lying in the cement factory.

A team of the investigating agency led by Sub-Inspector Jagdish is investigating the inventory of Bhupendera Cement Factory, a unit of ACC Limited. Representatives of the Bhupendera Cement Workers’ Union Surajpur (BCWUS) were also present during the videography being done at Mallah and Surajpur sites of the company.

Rattan Bhushan Garg, joint secretary-cum advisor of the union, said on April 30, 2019, they had written to the Haryana State Vigilance Department to investigate the matter with regard to the inventory of the machinery as the company had stopped maintaining the record after 1998.

Garg said the Haryana Government had passed the order on May 8, 1988 directing the company to handover the possession of the vacant land and machinery to the government as it wanted to exercise its right to purchase the same as per the condition of the lease deed dated November 25, 1937.

He said the company went to the High Court against the said order of the government seeking permission to shift the machinery, but the court had granted no permission to the company till date. He said now it is to be seen how government officials granted the permission to auction the machinery illegally, which also amounted to contempt of court.

It is pertinent to mention here that the state government had issued the notification in this regard on September 8, 2018 after Education Minister Ram Bilas had given an assurance in the Assembly to transfer the case to the Vigilance Department.

BJP MLA from Kalka Latika Sharma had raised the issue in the Assembly on March 8 this year as the SIT enquiry was going on at a slow pace. Earlier, the MLA had met employees, who were shunted out from the Surajpur factory in the Pinjore block in 2014. After listening to their grievances, she had assured them that after coming to power, she would raise the issue with the authorities concerned. Later, a case was registered against the company at the Pinjore police station on March 8, 2016.

Garg said the factory was set up by the then Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh. He claimed according to an agreement between the Maharaja and the company authorities, if the factory was closed then its land and machinery would become the national property. The company not only sold the machinery but also disposed of the 587 bigha land to a builder.