Flood Scam: BJP to protest at Uttarakhand CM's house for CBI probe

Dehradun: Insisting on a CBI probe into the alleged scam in relief operations during 2013 flash-floods in Uttarakhand, the main opposition BJP on Wednesday said it would protest outside Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s residence in Dehradun on 10 June in support of their demand. [caption id=“attachment_1780087” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat. PTI[/caption] The state BJP president Tirath Singh Rawat expressed doubts over the fairness of a probe by the Chief Secretary and said the party will not accept anything less than a CBI probe into a “loot of this scale”. “It is difficult to understand why the Chief Minister is shying away from a probe by the apex probe agency into the case when State Information Commissioner Anil Kumar Sharma has strongly recommended it considering the scale of the loot,” Tirath said here. “We have serious doubts about the fairness of a probe conducted by the Chief Secretary since he is a functionary under the state government whose officials committed the loot. An agency like the CBI alone can bring out the truth in this matter,” he said. Tirath said BJP will demonstrate outside the CM’s residence on June 10 to demand a CBI probe into the alleged scam. The BJP workers will visit different constituencies in the state this week to create awareness among people about the scam, he said. “We will tell them how officials were busy picnicking on funds meant for relief of flood-hit people when they were struggling to come to terms with the state’s worst natural disaster,” the state BJP president said. Tirath also demanded a white paper on the spending of funds which flowed in from all quarters to the state government in the wake of the tragedy and demanded the CM’s resignation if he could not do so. Many BJP leaders including Leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt and senior party leader Bachchi Singh Rawat have been clamouring for CBI probe into the scam since a string of irregularities were found in the spending of funds for flash- flood victims in Uttarakhand by the state information commissioner in response to an RTI query. PTI