Action after audit report in CCL scam, says minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu

PATIALA: Having cried hoarse over the Rs 31,000-crore ‘cash credit limit (CCL) scam’, the Congress government has finally decided to take action against its ‘preparators’ on the basis of the third party audit that has recently been ordered by the finance department.

At a press conference in Patiala on Saturday, cabinet minister for food and civil supply Bharat Bhushan Ashu said the finance department is going for a third-party audit of Rs 31,000-crore CCL scam and action would be initiated on the basis of the report.

The finance department has already constituted a special committee to look into the matter, said Ashu. The committee of the finance department, in which Punjab chief secretary is also a member, has already held a meeting and is likely to resolve the issue within the next two months, he added.

The state is also hoping that the commission will waive off the interest that has so far accumulated on the credit limit and will also adjust the amount that has already been paid by the state government to settle the account.

At present Punjab is paying an interest of Rs 3,200 crore on the outstanding.

The minister reiterated that earlier the matter had been resolved, but the previous Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP government in the state conceded to get the amount converted into a loan during the last leg of their tenure in an attempt to mount financial burden on the state’s exchequer. He accused that the scam was engineered by the previous government to create financial trouble to those taking over.