Traders oppose forced’ savings scheme

Meanwhile, the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI) has also decided to hold a meeting of industry associations on Monday to thrash out the issue. It may be recalled that Chamber president Dr R J Rathi in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Manohar Joshi had indicated that someof the industry would look at the elections in a different light, given the scenario in Pune.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Jawadekar sought to drive home the point that there was no element of compulsion for people to invest in the scheme, even as Pawar at a separate gathering described the tactics adopted by the government as extortionist’ and a gross misuse of power. Stating that he had also received several complaints from the trading community at Kolhapur, he said although he was not opposed to the small savings scheme, the manner in which the scheme was being carried out was totally wrong,especially since the entire industry was going through a recessionary phase.

While pointing out that the scheme was not totally new, he seemed to be amazed by the fact that the target had been increased almost eight-fold by the State Government that is, from Rs 250 crore to Rs 1700 crore within a short span of one year. He also expressed grave concern over the manner in which certain governmentofficials had literally threatened big’ companies, explaining that production had reduced by around 60 per cent in Telco and around 40 per cent in Bajaj. This, naturally would have a cascading effect on the various ancillaries attached to the big companies, he observed, wondering how the government could have such high expectations and could go about things in a totally wrong manner.

Jawadekar on the other hand, clarified that although the government had initiated the small savings scheme on a large scale in order to lend a boost to rural water supply through the Suvarna Bachat Yojana, no circular had been issued to any government department which recommended the use of compulsion or coercion for people to invest in the scheme.

The BJP spokesman opined that the Congress was now making capital out of the issue which was directly related to the development of the State and a measure towards solving the drinking water problem in rural areas. “We are definitely giving targets to officers to collect moneyfor this scheme, but there is an element of motivation and the aim to educate people to invest in such secure government schemes instead of falling prey to financial companies a majority of which are in troubled waters,” he explained.

Hitting out at the saffron alliance, Pawar who was in his element at the gathering alleged that the scheme was an attempt to keep certain near and dear ones happy by extorting money through forcible means while Jawadekar mentioned that they would attempt to impress upon the masses that the Congress was bent upon ensuring that the rural areas do not receive the kind of water supply they deserved. He also mentioned that since the code of conduct is in force, he would not be able to speak much and informed that the issue would be treated with priority following the completion of the elections.

Govt officials working at gun point?

While BJP state spokesman Prakash Jawadekar was quick to clarify that although the governmentofficers had been given targets to be collected by March 31, 1998, there was no element of compulsion involved, some of the government officials seem to be highly upset over the whole imbroglio.

Significantly, every department is reported to have received circulars from the State Government earmarking a target of Rs 5 crore for senior officials, Rs 1 crore for a grade 1 official, Rs 50 lakh for the second in rank and around 25 lakh for the junior level.

What has upset the government officials is the underlying threat that this could have an impact on their confidential reports, if the targets are not met, some of the officials told The Indian Express on conditions of anonymity.

MCCI president Dr R J Rathi says that government officers had been threatened that their careers would be spoilt if they did not achieve the target and hence even they were put to great harassment which was in turn passed on to the industry. Interestingly, the targets set for certain government departments are believed to exceedtheir total annual budgets thus making it an almost impossible task for the officials to succeed in their task.The Additional Commissioner of Sales Tax incidentally has sent notices to around 5,000 dealers in the city to increase their security deposit for C’ forms purpose under Central Sales Tax Act with the target for Pune set at Rs 1700 crore.