Rs 10 crore central subsidy for Maharashtra minister Vijay Kumar Gavit’s kin project | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Eyebrows are being raised over a Rs 10 crore subsidy granted to Reva Tapi Valley Industrial Development, a Nandurbar concern owned by Supriya Gavit, daughter of tribal development minister Vijay Kumar Gavit, under a scheme drafted by the NDA government.
While Vijay Kumar Gavit (in pic) rejected any allegations of favouritism and said his daughter’s project was selected on merit, leader of the opposition Vijay Wadettiwar and MPCC general secretary Sachin Sawant took objection to the grant by the ministry of food processing, saying it was unethical and against the ideas promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The ambitious scheme has been drafted for the farmers and for tackling agrarian crisis. Surprisingly, the beneficiaries are the relatives of BJP cabinet members. While there is absolutely no increase in the income of farmers, BJP leaders are becoming richer daily,” Wadettiwar said.
He said it was ironical that Modi was accusing others of keeping everything in the family when such things were happening in his party.
“Wherever there is profit, BJP will never miss the opportunity, which is against the ideas promoted by Modi, who always spoke against ‘pariwarwad’,” he said.
Sawant said that instead of working for the people, BJP cabinet members were busy in the welfare of their sons and daughters. Sawant said there is one more beneficiary entity associated with Gavit.
Minister Gavit said it was a created controversy. “My daughter, Supriya, is unnecessarily being dragged into an uncalled for controversy. In my opinion, her project for subsidy has been selected on merit. When she applied for the grant, I was not a minister. When the project was approved, I was not a cabinet member. Even when the first instalment was disbursed, I was not a minister,” he said.
Ministry of food processing records show that Supriya Gavit submitted a Rs 27 crore project. It was approved on August 8, 2019. While the ministry approved a grant of Rs 10 crore, Rs 3.15 crore was released this year.
Minister Gavit said that in 2018 the ministry of food processing had called for expression of interest for agriculture processing clusters and after verification by the high-level technical committee, 70 companies were selected for financial assistance. “Then a total of Rs 590 crore was sanctioned and so far, Rs 166 crore has been disbursed. Under the cluster project, my daughter is setting up cold storage and warehouses,” he said.
Government records show that of the cluster of 70 companies approved, 13 are from the state and have been sanctioned up to Rs 10 crore.