KYM 5
Hansraj Ahir: Man Who Blew Whistle On The Coal Scam
— By | Nov 10, 2014 12:57 am
Mumbai : Hansraj Gangaram Ahir was a disappointed man on May 26 this year, when select members of the Modi government were sworn in. Ahir’s inclusion in the cabinet was considered to be almost certain. But, he kept waiting and the call from Rashtrapati Bhavan never reached him until a couple of days back. A committed party worker, he hardly complained about the disappointment and got the reward today.
His commitment and persistence are his biggest assets as has been proved over the past few years.
He is both feared and revered – Ahir, the soft-spoken Lok Sabha member from Chandrapur in Vidarbha, can be persistent when it comes to exposing scams. He blew the whistle on the coal mining scam and sought details on the various dark deals on it, but was stone-walled at various levels, including the then Prime Minister’s Office. But, Ahir did not lose heart. Currently in his fourth-term as Lok Sabha member, Ahir took help of Prakash Javadekar, another Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, and moved the Central Vigilance Commission to inquire into the incident in early 2012. A few months later, it was only after the CVC ordered a CBI inquiry into the scam that its ramifications came to light and it hit bigwigs in various sectors. Consequently, the UPA paid a heavy price in terms of the scam’s political fallout. The nation watched as the scam details with the staggering amounts involved tumbled out, and it catapulted into one of the biggest scams to hit the country’s political-business landscape. As in exposing scams, Ahir is equally meticulous and systematic in his parliamentary duties, bagging the Sansad Ratna Award for the Best Parliamentarian in the 15th Lok Sabha.
In the 14th Lok Sabha, speaker Somnath Chatterjee had hailed Ahir, as a ‘role-model’ for MP’s.
Prime Point Foundation (PPF) rated him as the best parliamentarian for introduction of 24 private bills out of a total of 288 bills in the 15th Lok Sabha.
Ahir, who left formal education after schooling, has worked on numerous bodies in Lok Sabha.
He was also Chairman of Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority in 1997-98 and Member of Tobacco Board, Panchayati Raj Samiti, Rojgar Hami Yojana and Bhatkaya Vimuktar Jaji Ashram Shala Samiti apart from heading a host of social organizations in Chadrapur.
His profile on the Lok Sabha website says that he is good at Kabaddi, football, wrestling and volleyball. He has two sons and a daughter.
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