Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Public Health Engineering (PHE) has said that the complaint against state minister Sampatiya Uike over bribery allegations is baseless and motivated by malicious intent.
Madhya Pradesh Jansampark department said that it has examined all the facts and observed the departmental procedures, and it found that the complaint is fabricated, baseless, and motivated by malicious intent.
Uike was accused of committing serious financial irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission's fund provided by the Government of India to the State. Former MLA Kishore Samrite has accused Minister Uike of taking a "commission" of Rs 1000 crore from the fund of Rs 30,000 crores released by the Centre for the Jal Jeevan Mission to the state and has written to the Prime Minister's office about it.
Minister Uike has claimed that the allegations against her are baseless and wrong and that she is being unnecessarily harassed in the matter. "I am completely right (innocent). I have no problem with an investigation into the matter. I am an adivasi woman from a poor working class and today I am here to serve the public. Our chief minister will give a reply to it and he is aware of the situation. The way I am being harassed and this is absolutely wrong," Uike said.
Meanwhile, the Congress has termed it as serious corruption, demanded Uike's resignation of the minister as well as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the matter.
"There are headlines in the newspaper that it is a matter of commission of Rs 1000 crore. Be it a Jal Jeevan Mission or a tap water mission, there is nothing but corruption. BJP forgets about moral responsibility? If there is any morality in the state government, then they should take the resignation from the minister. Also today, I will write a letter to the Prime Minister myself for a CBI investigation into the matter," said Jitu Patwari, Madhya Pradesh Congress President.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mohan government in the state has become synonymous to corruption. All ministers are engaged in looting. There is not a single minister who can claim they are clean. It is not just a matter of Rs 1000 crore irregularity. The minister should resign, Patwari said.
The PHE department shared a post on his official handle X and wrote, "The complaint was found to be baseless in the factual report of the Chief Engineer. The allegations levelled against the Public Health Engineering Department Minister, Sampatiya Uike are fabricated and baseless."