Meghnagar (Madhya Pradesh): A sand trader from Chotta Udaipur village in Gujarat has accused senior administrative officer of illegal recovery from sand traders. Sand trader also claimed that he would lodge a complaint with the Chief Minister.
Addressing media persons, sand trader Baddu Pachaya from Alirajpur and his accountant Bhupendra Yadav accused Jhabua sub-divisional magistrate Sunil Kumar Jha of demanding money through broker Gourav Pathak against release of their sand-laden trucks.
On the other hand, SDM Jha rubbished all the allegations as baseless. “We are taking action as per government instructions. These allegations have been levelled to stop the action,” Jha said Pachaya and his accountant Yadav said that their sand-laden truck GJ 34 T 1399 was heading towards Jhabua from Chotta Udaipur.
The truck was chased by Jhabua SDM and his companion Gaurav Pathak in a private vehicle near Nad village at 2.30 am on May 27. Jhabua SDM Jha called Bhunendra Yadav on the spot at 3 am and demanded money through Pathak to release the truck. Pachaya alleged that the officer demanded Rs 3 lakh through Pathak and after negotiations, a deal was finalised for Rs 2.5 lakh.
At 5 am, a truck was released without action. Rs 3 lakh were taken in March Pachaya said that sand was transported to different parts through Jhabua and Alirajpur. Sometimes trucks were overloaded. For this reason, the owner in order to avoid any dispute with officials fulfills their demands as per their instructions.
Pachaya is considered a big leader of the BJP in Alirajpur, yet his accountant Bhupendra Yadav accused SDM Jha of targeting his truck. Bhupendra said that on March 17, his truck was caught and made to stand at the checkpoint near Dhadhori village. To release the truck, SDM Jha took Rs 3 lakh through Gaurav Pathak at Jhabua Circuit House.
Later, a letter was written to Mordudia post-in-charge on March 21 to release the vehicle. Pachaya, who is also an office-bearer of the BJP state front, said that he would seek time from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to lodge a complaint in this the matter. Contacted SDM Sunil Kumar Jha said, “On March 17, when the truck with registration No GJ 34 T 1399 was caught at Mordudia village, the driver fled.
The office was closed on March 18 and 19 due to holidays. The concerned presented the royalty and other documents on March 20 and truck was released on March 21. Two days back, a truck was caught during night patrolling. “We prepared a video of the entire incident as well as video statement of the driver as he didn’t have any documents on him.
He later escaped under the cover of darkness from Ranapur,” said the SDM adding, “There was no person named Gaurav Pathak with me. Nor has any money transaction been done. I have informed the collector about the incident. We are taking action on the instructions of the government, to obstruct this action such allegations are being made which are baseless.”
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