Bhubaneswar: Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati today accused a minister of the BJP government of collecting commission from warehouses across Odisha.

The Jeypore MLA made this accusation while speaking on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address in the Assembly.

“The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Minister has his agents at several places in Odisha to collect commission from warehouses. Through his agents, the minister is collecting Rs 1 lakh from each of the warehouses. I have detailed information regarding the agents involved in the collection of money from warehouses,” said the five-time Congress MLA.

Bahinipati claimed that a person having ‘Tripathy’ as his surname is collecting money on behalf of the FS&CW Minister in Balangir district while an agent bearing the surname ‘Sankha’ is arranging commission in Khurda district. Similarly, an agent having the surname of ‘Satpathy’ is involved in the collection of money from warehouses in Ganjam district, alleged Bahinipati.   

FS&CW Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, however, refuted all these allegations.

“The allegations levelled by the Congress MLA are baseless. He is known for making such types of bogus statements. If he has any evidence then he should produce them before the government. We will take stern action in this regard. Our government is functioning in a transparent manner. It is not involved in any irregularities,” said the minister.