MUMBAI: For the third consecutive day yesterday, the Shiv Sena-BJP-led opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly continued to attack the Congress party-led Democratic Front government causing frequent disruption in proceedings and staging walkouts. Ultimately, this led to the house being adjourned for the day.
Alleging corruption in the purchase of substandard bulletproof jackets for policemen, the leader of the opposition, Ramdas Kadam, demanded a judicial inquiry. He also demanded that Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Home Minister Jayant Patil should resign immediately, alleging that the policemen in last year's Mumbai terror attacks died due to these substandard jackets.
Taking the government to task, the Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders harshly criticized it and claimed that the slain Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare died because of the supply of the substandard bulletproof jacket.
Soon after the Governor S.C. Jamir's speech, Kadam launched a strong attack on the government by displaying in the house a bulletproof jacket of a superior quality imported from United Kingdom. He claimed that jacket to be lighter and cheaper than the substandard jackets purchased by the state government.
The imported jacket has two metal plates and weights only 10 kilograms as against the 17-kilogram jacket worn by Karkare. While the imported jacket cost Rs.33,000, the ones purchased by the state government were around Rs.80,000, and yet it could not save the life of Karkare, Kadam said.
Amidst frequent disruptions by the opposition, the house had to be adjourned on three occasions. The opposition did not rest with the allegations of corruption in the purchase of jackets; it also alleged corruption in the purchase of scanner van at the cost of seven crore rupees after the Mumbai terror attacks. The van fitted with a scanner detects any explosives in the periphery of 200 meters.
Flashing a report by the Andhra Pradesh government which had tested the vehicles of the same make, Kadam said that it pointed discrepancies, including inability to detect a 9.mm carbine, AK-47, explosives in plastic container among other items.
Kadam claimed that former Director General of Police Anami Narayan Roy and Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor were responsible for the deaths of policemen killed in the Mumbai terror attacks and demanded that murder charges should be clamped on them and they be arrested.
Waving a copy of the information received under the Right to Information Act amid chaos and confusion, Kadam read out the contents which said that the file relating to the purchase of jackets were missing. "There is a scam worth crores of rupees in the purchase of the jackets, and in trying to bury the issue, the file has deliberately been removed and is listed as missing," Kadam alleged.
Meanwhile, when asked about the opposition charges, the home minister, who was in Pune yesterday for a police function told Arab News, "There is no substance in the charges, all of them are baseless. The bullet-proof jackets were purchased long back in 2004, and were the best at that given time," he said. He refused to divulge more details, stating that the Assembly session was in progress and any details would amount to breach of privilege of the house.
