Patna, July 19: The NDA government in Bihar has been sucked into its biggest controversy since returning to power last November following allegations that relatives and family members of at least two ministers and some senior IAS officers were allotted land by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada), prompting chief minister Nitish Kumar to order an investigation by the chief secretary.

“There are reports in the air that wards of some of my colleagues and some senior officials have been the beneficiary of the allotment of Biada land. I have asked the chief secretary, Shri Anup Mukerjee, to come out with a detailed report on the issue as soon as possible,” Nitish said. “I will act only after going through the chief secretary’s report.”

The Opposition led by the RJD created bedlam in both Houses of the legislature, pressing for an adjournment motion on the “irregularities” in the allotment of land as well as on the police firing in a Forbesganj village in which at least four persons were killed on June 3. Unable to control the uproar, Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary adjourned the House for 10 minutes and accepted the Opposition’s demand for a debate on the issue.

The Opposition said none of those allotted land had any prior experience in setting up industries and hence the Biada largesse smacked of nepotism.

Biada has put on its website the list of allottees. Among them are the daughters of human resource development minister P.K. Shahi and social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah. Amanullah, a first time JD(U) MLA from Sahebpur Kamal, is the wife of senior IAS officer Afzal Amanullah, at present the principal secretary, water resources.

The ministerial daughters — Urvashi Shahi and Rahmat Amanullah — have both been allotted 87,120sqft (about three acres) of land in Hajipur and Bihiya (in Bhojpur district), respectively.

Shahi has been given land to set up Matrai College of Education and Management, while Amanullah, an MBA who has worked with Mahindra and Mahindra, has got land for a food processing unit.

Besides, the relatives of senior IAS officers Anand Kishore (now the inspector-general, prisons), S. Siddhartha (a secretary to the chief minister) and the BJP’s Legislative Council member, Awadhesh Narayan Singh figure on the list. Among the allottees is the son of JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma (see chart).

Siddhartha’s wife, Vijay Laxmi, is also an IAS officer.

Some of the legislators and senior officials whose kin figure in the list alleged “character assassination” by the accusers.

“My daughter is a management graduate and has worked with Mahindra and Mahindra. She has been allotted the land in a proper way and wanted to pursue her entrepreneurial dream in Bihar,” said Afzal Amanullah.

A senior legislator said: “A minister’s or an official’s son or daughter can choose the career of his or her choice. He or she is well within her fundamental right to get the land and set up industry on it. The only issue that should be a matter of concern and probe also is the procedures involved in the allotment,” the MLA said. “If the allotment has taken place in accordance with the rules, it should not generate any controversy,” he added.

The Biada was constituted under the statutory provisions of the Bihar Industrial Area Development Act, 1974 with a mission to promote and assist industrialisation in the state. The Nitish government recently came out with its new industrial policy, announcing several measures to augment business in a state starved of industries.

Nitish said his government’s policy on Biada land was “absolutely clear”. “The Biada website is supposed to have the list of all the applicants to the land and also the allottees, besides the rules explaining the allotments to maintain transparency. The chief secretary’s report will make things clear.”

The Opposition, especially the RJD, which has been reduced to the political sidelines following the NDA’s landslide victory last year, went for the jugular, sensing it now had an issue over which it could put the government on the mat.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui linked the Forbesganj firing with the “irregularities” in Biada land allotment.

“The irregularities in Biada land allotment are very much linked to the police firing as the brother of a ruling party MLC is one of the owners of Sundaram India Private Limited, which has been allotted Biada land in Forbesganj.”

Siddiqui said the Opposition would keep on raising the issue till the government came out with “appropriate action” into what he described as a “land allotment scam”.

Nitish has so far shown no mercy to colleagues who have figured in any controversy. He sacked his co-operative minister Ramadhar Singh when his name cropped up in a criminal case dating back to 1992. During his first tenure also, the chief minister had dropped Jeetan Ram Majhi only a day after the latter had taken oath when his name cropped up in some scam.