Lucknow:
Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta has said that state minister Rajesh Tripathi, accused of collecting money on dead, should either step down from the post or relinquish chairmanship of the society that runs an illegal crematorium in Gorakhpur.
In a report submitted to Chief Minister Mayawati, the Lokayukta said the Minister for Homoeopathy and Religious Endowment, through his NGO Mukti Path Sewa Sansthan, encroached upon 1.219 hectares of central government's Narcotics department at Chillupar and collected money on the bodies that came for cremation, sources said,
The income from the shops constructed by him on the land was also going in the NGO's account, they said.
The Lokayukta in his report dated December 23 also asked the government to check the activities of the NGO.
Stating that income from the government land cannot go in the account of a person, the Lokayukta suggested the state could take the land on lease from the union government and hand it over to various departments for development.
The report said the local authorities worked under pressure of the minister and did not take steps to vacate the land.