GUWAHATI, May 8 � Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) president Akhil Gogoi has alleged that in the name of setting up industrial units, land sharks Kailash Lohia and Ramavataor Bhorakia, who have allegedly been grabbing farm land with ulterior motives, have also been duping the State of over Rs 181 crore annually in the name of subsidy and VAT.
Lohia-Bhorakia and company have been selling the product of their Topcem India Cement Company at Rs 300 per bag, which should have been sold at Rs 265 per bag. But, in the name of VAT, they are charging the consumers Rs 35 extra, against the 34 paisa they are paying per bag to the Assam Government in this connection. This has enabled these people extract around Rs 31 crore per year, alleged the KMSS president. .
Topcem Company has been earning a total amount of over Rs 150 crore annually as subsidy from the State Government against an investment of Rs 122 crore it has made in the project. Moreover, Lohia-Bhorakia and company had earned a total amount of Rs 157,38,58,384 as subsidy from the Central Government for their industrial units between April 1, 2001 and March 31, 2010.
Of this amount, between 2003 and 2012, over Rs 142.22 crore went to the Meghalaya Cement Factory run by Lohia and Bhorakia. This is in fact a part of the Topcem project.
Topcem Cement has not been paying entry tax due to the State on its raw materials at the rate of Rs 10.61 crore per year since 2011 arguing that it should be exempted from this tax.
The Topcem Cement factory is located in the green belt area and it has contravened other environment-related norms, too. Besides, the industrial unit is paying Rs 537.08 as annual land revenue. For, the category of its land has not been changed from agricultural to industrial. If its category is changed to industrial, the company will have to pay Rs 1,05,655 as land revenue in a year, asserted Gogoi.
Significantly, the employment opportunities generated by the Topcem project is limited to only 86. The top two managerial posts of the project are offered to people from Bihar, said Gogoi.
The KMSS president also alleged that Lohia-Bhorakia even misled the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in case No. RC 5(A) II-Ghy by influencing the investigating officer (IO) to make an appeal before the Special Court to close the case. The case is related to cheating the Government by selling subsidized coal allotted to the Meghalaya Cement Company Ltd to a Jorabat-based coke company.
The KMSS will go for stir against the CBI if the investigating agency fails to appoint a competent IO to reinvestigate the case as per the directive of the Special Court, Gogoi warned.