A change in the revenue collection system involving multiple departments exposed how money collected from the stone belt of Birbhum had allegedly been looted, prompting the BJP leadership to estimate graft worth ₹10,000 crore during the 15-year Trinamool regime.
BJP MLA from Suri, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, on Tuesday presented data stating that daily revenue collected from stone chips sold by crushing units in the district through a private agency was only ₹19 lakh per day during the Trinamool regime, but rose to ₹2.30 crore on May 18 after officials from four departments were involved in the process following directives from chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.
"From April to October last year, the government used to receive only ₹19 lakh per day. After our chief minister Suvendu Adhikari ordered the removal of all illegal tolls and collection points for other minerals, officials from four government departments were deployed at nine revenue collection points from May 17," said Chattopadhyay.
"On May 17, a total of ₹1.20 crore was collected and deposited into the state exchequer. On the second day, May 18, the amount rose to ₹2.30 crore," he added.
Stone mines and crushing units in the district are spread across at least five blocks — Mohammedbazar, Mayureshwar, Rampurhat, Nalhati and Murarai.
Sources said the revenue collection from the stone belt used to be carried out through duplicate challan receipts (DCRs) issued by the West Bengal Mineral Development Corporation.
During the previous regime, a private company was assigned to collect the revenue by issuing DCRs in Birbhum, leading to allegations of large-scale loot and losses to the government exchequer.
The BJP had accused Trinamool leaders and a section of officials, along with the private agency, of looting government revenue worth crores by using fake DCRs. However, the practice was allegedly not stopped. Still, the daily revenue collection increased to around ₹70 lakh per day between November last year and March this year, before the election was announced.
After coming to power, the first BJP chief minister, during an administrative meeting, instructed officials to withdraw all such collection points and tolls across the state.
BJP MLAs from Birbhum, led by the Suri MLA, met Birbhum district magistrate Dhaval Jain and other senior officials, urging them to remove the old system and introduce the new one involving officials from four departments.
"The move exposed the results. Now the government has involved officials from four departments, including land, police, administration and the motor vehicles department, in the process. No single department has been kept solely responsible so that no allegations can be raised against any one of them," said the Suri MLA.
Chattopadhyay said officials involved in the revenue collection over the past two days had informed him that the stone sector had the potential to generate nearly ₹3 crore in daily revenue.
"If the daily revenue collection reaches ₹3 crore, then the government will receive ₹90-100 crore every month in its exchequer. Thus, we suspect that during the past 15 years of the TMC regime, there was corruption worth ₹10,000 crore through the issuance of fake DCRs," said Chattopadhyay.
"On May 21, our chief minister will hold an administrative meeting with the central Bengal districts. We will demand a thorough probe into loot during the Trinamool regime. We want all those involved in the corruption racket, including government officials, to be punished under the rule of law," he said.
A senior official in the Birbhum administration confirmed the rise in revenue collection and said the administration was planning to increase the number of DCR points so that no vehicle could avoid paying government revenue.
"The amount collected on Day 3 is likely to cross ₹2.3 crore. We plan to increase the number of collection points to ensure no illegal transport of stone chips takes place," he said.