Working with Dushyant to tackle corruption in Haryana: Vij
His statement came a day after he said that his recommendations for the special enquiry team’s (SET’s) report on the alleged liquor scam have been accepted by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while deputy CM Dushyant Chautala said there was no scam in the excise department.
Haryana home minister Anil Vij on Friday said “deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and I are fighting together against corruption in the state”.
His statement came a day after he said that his recommendations for the special enquiry team’s (SET’s) report on the alleged liquor scam have been accepted by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while deputy CM Dushyant Chautala said there was no scam in the excise department.
“Dushyant is a part of the government and I don’t think he will say that he is not satisfied with the probe,” Vij, who also holds the health portfolio, said.
Clearing the air on reports of him and Dushyant having a conflict on the ‘liquor scam’, Vij said, “We both want to stop the liquor smuggling that used to take place during previous regimes. Keeping this in our minds, we are doing everything in our power to plug the flow of illegal liquor.”
On being asked about reports of Dushyant’s dissatisfaction with the probe, the home minister said, “The SET has submitted its findings and now, that will be further investigated by the vigilance department of the government. As I said that he (Dushyant) is a part of the government itself, I think he would be on board with this.”
Vij had on Thursday informed that the state government has ordered a vigilance probe into the findings of the SET constituted to investigate the alleged smuggling of liquor during the lockdown. The inquiry findings had revealed glaring deficiencies in the functioning of the excise and taxation department and indicated collusion of officials in smuggling and illegal sale of liquor. It also mentioned names of present excise and taxation commissioner IAS officer Shekhar Vidyarthi and the then Sonepat SP, IPS officer Pratiksha Godara.
However, Dushyant, who also holds the excise and taxation portfolio, had maintained that there was no scam in the department and cited higher revenue generated during the pandemic. The deputy CM had earlier too rebuffed the allegations of the SET that had blamed Vidyarthi for hampering the visit of the team to a distillery and on other issues as well.
It’s pertinent to mention here that a committee comprising three IPS officers to be headed by ADGP Kala Ramachandran has been constituted to look into the remarks made about the police functioning in the SET report as well as irregularities committed by the cops. The committee will submit its report in two months.