UP govt, Oppn lock horns over EPF scam

Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government and the Opposition were engaged in a blame game over the investment of over Rs 2,600 crore of the state power corporation employees' provident fund in scam-hit housing finance firm DHFL.

The Adityanath government accused the previous Akhilesh Yadav dispensation of "opening the gate of corruption" by taking the "dubious" decision of investing part of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) employees' provident fund (EPF) in DHFL.

The Samajwadi Party accused the BJP of diverting the attention of the public by blaming party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, while the Congress demanded the resignation of state Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma.

According to Sharma, UPPCL director (finance) Sudhanshu Dwivedi and Praveen Kumar Gupta, the then secretary of the state power employees trust and UPPCL provident fund trust, began the actual investment in the DHFL from March 2017 without bringing the matter to the knowledge of the power utility's managing director.

Sharma said the two officials began investing the UPPCL's EPF in the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) despite a clearance to deposit the money for a fixed period in the Punjab National Bank (PNB).