Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Sep 17: Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday alleged that OBC (Kunbi) certificates are being issued on the basis of forged and tampered documents. He raised the issue during a meeting of the state cabinet’s OBC sub-committee, pointing out a glaring disparity in state funding while the Maratha community received Rs 25,000 crore in the last three years, OBCs were allotted only Rs 2,500 crore in the past 25 years.

Following the allegations and rising discontent within the OBC community, Sub-committee Chairman and Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule directed officials to conduct a thorough verification of all documents to curb the issuance of bogus Kunbi certificates. He also ordered the immediate release of Rs 2,933 crore in pending funds for OBC welfare within 15 days.

The meeting, chaired by Bawankule, was attended by Bhujbal, Environment Minister Pankaja Munde, Other Backward and Bahujan Welfare and Dairy Development Minister Atul Save, Forest Minister Ganesh Naik, and Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne.

Bhujbal reiterated that certificates are being issued based on manipulated records from the Hyderabad Gazette and demanded a fresh government-appointed committee to probe the possibility of fake entries similar to those earlier examined by the panel led by former Justice Sandeep Shinde.

Highlighting financial neglect, Bhujbal noted that while the Annasaheb Patil Economic Development Corporation received Rs 750 crore, the Backward Classes Development Corporation was granted only Rs 5 crore. Calling the allocation grossly inadequate, he pointed out that OBCs constitute 54 per cent of the state’s population as per the 1931 census, making the meagre provision “highly discriminatory and unacceptable.”