Sweet Truth Bared

Padamsinh Patil cannot understand what the fuss is about. Maharashtra's irrigation minister, chairperson of the famous Terna sugar cooperative, and Sharad Pawar's trusted lieutenant, believed he was doing a good deed when he mobilised the shareholder-farmers of his cooperative to donate for Kargil war heroes and the Gujarat earthquake relief fund. Those "good deeds" in 1999 and 2001 came back this week to haunt him. It transpired that nearly Rs 52 lakh collected from farmers and other donors in Osmanabad, Patil's home turf and Terna headquarters, did not reach the intended beneficiaries.

The reason? Simple. Patil had diverted the relief funds to salvage his sinking cooperative, using most of it for working expenses. At last count, outstanding dues of the cooperative to a slew of financial institutions amounted to nearly Rs 200 crore. Besides, permanent factory workers have not been paid regular salaries, shareholder-farmers have not received dividends and retired workers are still awaiting their dues that run into lakhs. Against this, Rs 52 lakh is chickenfeed. But the Terna management saw nothing amiss in helping itself to money.

This is how the numbers add up: Rs 15.05 lakh collected as Kargil Fund, Rs 10.60 lakh as flood relief fund, Rs 10.30 lakh for Gujarat earthquake relief and Rs 16.01 lakh donated as sugar complex fund. None of the funds were handed over to concerned authorities or relief agencies. Patil confirmed this in his deposition to the Justice P.B. Sawant commission, set up to probe four ministers of the Democratic Front government in Maharashtra accused of serious corruption by social activist Anna Hazare. Patil had staunchly refuted Hazare's charges last year. Patil also disclosed that Rs 1.3 crore meant to be grant for shareholder-farmers to improve sugarcane yields were diverted to daily expenses.

The Shiv Sena-BJP opposition predictably upped the ante and called for Patil's resignation. Between his cabinet berth and working expenses, Patil preferred to keep the former and signed the cheques for Kargil Fund and earthquake relief fund this week. Says Patil: "The fact is I didn't know that the funds had not been handed over to concerned authorities. As soon as I got to know, I sent the cheques." He now blames Terna's former managing director, R.C. Karva, for the delay. For Opposition leader Nitin Gadkari (BJP), it's an opportunity to further shame a government tainted by the Telgi scam, medical seats sellout and the sugar export scam. "This is the nadir of shamelessness. How can Patil say he didn't know? What was his real intention in holding back the relief fund?" thunders Gadkari.

Patil's political boss, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, is believed to have given his lieutenant an earful about diverting the relief funds. On his part, Pawar says the issue is now closed. But for the Sushilkumar Shinde government preparing for assembly election three months hence, this is an unwelcome pointer to its liabilities. Already, NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal had to resign over the Telgi scam and his suspect role in police transfers. Three other cabinet ministers—Vijay Kumar Gavit (social welfare), Nawab Malik (housing) and Sureshdada Jain (Food and Civil Supplies)—face charges of corruption. Maharashtra's Lokayukta has passed strictures against two ministers. The cag has indicted former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and minister Sushil Chaturvedi for usurping cheap land meant for primary schools to construct engineering and B.Ed colleges that fetch high returns. "For a party that nailed George Fernandes so hard over Tehelka and the coffin scam, the Congress-led government is giving us a lot of opportunity to pay back," says Gadkari.

Citizens groups are shocked."It's not the amount but the sentiment that's so shocking," says Gerson da Cunha, activist and convenor of the Association for Governance and Networking in India, "To think that a minister could help himself to money collected in the name of dead soldiers is appalling, to say the least." Justice Sawant Commission, through Anna Hazare, may just have opened a huge barrel of worms. If this probe and sugar export scam inquiry are taken further, several other sugar cooperatives affiliated to prominent Congress and NCP politicians could see unwelcome disclosures. In election season, the Congress and NCP are trying hard to keep the lid down on the barrel.