Probe cattle camps ‘irregularities’: Govt

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government Friday ordered a probe into the alleged irregularities in cattle camps under the former Devendra Fadnavis-led government.

Relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that a divisional commissioner of Pune would conduct enquiry into the irregularities in cattle camps in the Beed district while a divisional commissioner of Nashik would conduct probe into irregularities in cattle camps in the Ahmednagar and Osmanabad districts. They would submit their reports to the government within a month.

Mr Wadettiwar told reporters at Mantralaya Friday that a criminal case would be filed against those found guilty. According to the minister, 608 cattle camps were set up in the Beed district in 2019 while 296 cattle camps were opened in Solapur district and 504 cattle camps in Ahmednagar district.

“The government had spent around `1200 crores on the cattle camps. Out of the Rs 1200 crores, Rs 1042 crores had been disbursed and `185 crores was yet to be paid,” he said. The highest number of complaints regarding bogus cattle camps were reported in Beed district.

The parameters had been violated for the setting up of cattle camps in the Beed district. The government had asked the cattle camp operators to put a tag on the cattle but the cattle without a tag had been provided shelter.

A bill for the same had been generated and massive irregularities were found in the operation of these cattle camps during 2018-19, Mr Wadettiwar told reporters.

“The remaining payment has been stopped. A committee has been formed under a divisional commissioner of Pune to investigate the irregularities in Beed district and another committee has been formed under a divisional commissioner of Nashik for probing the irregularities in Ahmednagar and Osmanabad districts. The committees will submit their report within a month,” he said.