Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Mar 6: After the infamous Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University scholarship scam worth crores, yet another scam involving scholarship of the ST, SC, Pahari and other students besides uniforms and construction of additional rooms and boundary walls etc has come to light in Balakote Zone of Mendhar in district Poonch.
While the Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajouri-Poonch Range has directed the SDPO Mendhar Shahid Nahim to hold inquiry into the matter, the Director School Education (DSE) after preliminary inquiry through CEO Poonch has initiated yet another inquiry headed by an officer of the rank of Joint Director.
Reports revealed that the students of 85 Govt Primary Schools, 37 Middle Schools, eight (8) Govt High Schools and two Govt Higher Secondary Schools under Balakote Zone of Poonch are without scholarships for the last over three years, despite the fact that this amount was released every year by the Directorate of State School Education Department in favour of ST/SC/ OBC/ Pahari and other meritorious students of Balakote zone.
Some villagers including Sarpanchs brought the matter to the notice of DIG Rajouri- Poonch recently, after several representations to concerned ZEO of DyCEO went to the deaf ears. No departmental action was taken by senior Education officers in this regard. The locals also alleged in the complaint that an old nexus of some teachers attached with the ZEO office Balakote for the last over one decade in connivance with their a few senior officials having DDO powers were allegedly involved in the financial irregularities.
Not only this, an amount of Rs 19 lakh was provided for the uniforms of the poor students but hardly Rs 8 lakh money was utilized and uniforms of highly sub-standard clothes were provided to the students. Moreover, Rs 47 lakhs provided for the compound walls in the schools was also misappropriated.
Huge financial irregularities have been committed in the construction of additional rooms in these schools under SSA and toilets and instead of JEs or AEs, non-technical staff members like headmasters/ ZEPO have been made the members of the Technical Committees to monitor the construction/ quality works in violation of standing guidelines under SSA, the complaint said.
SDPO Mendhar, Shahid Nahim when contacted said that he has already started inquiry into the matter on the directions of the DIG Rajouri-Poonch Range. Mr Nahim said that he has recorded the statements of many persons including heads of these schools, Panchayat members, students and their parents as well. It has been found that majority of them have not been disbursed the scholarship. Though it has been asked to hold probe for the last three years, but in many cases it has been detected that scholarships worth lakhs was not disbursed even after 2007 in many schools of the area.
The Inquiry officer alleged that staff of the concerned ZEO office was not cooperating and not providing record. “We manage to get some record but there seems to be tempering at many documents. Three teachers have been attached to this office since long. There is some tussle also going on between the new officer (ZEO) and this old lobby but all the facts will come out shortly. The inquiry at this stage has revealed massive irregularities and the scam may go higher than the projected amount”, Mr Nahim maintained.
Zonal Education Officer, Balakote Abdul Rashid Choudhary when contacted said that he joined there recently. Earlier, he was dragged in litigation by the vested interests in the department. Three teachers Mohd Ibrahim of GPS Naloi, Mohd Kaleem of GMS Hissab and Mohd Latief of GPS Rahmluta were detached as per Government order of February 2, 2016 but they refused to hand over the charge fearing exposure of their misdeeds.
The ZEO said that he informed the CEO Poonch also but there was no action in this regard. He said that all these irregularities have been committed prior to his joining here. “ Earlier, I was not provided DDO powers and suffered victimization by his senior officers in the district. With the public support and directions from the DSE office and relief from the court he has been able to discharge his duties but even then he is getting threats from the people allegedly involved in the scam,” he added.
The ZEO admitted that students of the area have not been provided scholarships since long. He also claimed that this year’s scholarship was received but the staff did not cooperate and not prepared invoice. He set up committees twice for disbursement of this scholarship among students but under the influenced and threats from some vested interests within the system, they resigned from the committee. The ZEO said that he has also requested the concerned Sub Divisional Officer to provide him security as he was getting threats from some elements there. The ZEO said let the impartial inquiry be held and everything will come to the light. But there is nexus whose threads are connected at the higher level as well.
Director School Education Jammu, Samita Sethi on being contacted said that the matter came to her notice recently and she asked CEO Poonch to hold preliminary inquiry. But he has not responded back. She said that some more inputs were received by her after that and since massive financial irregularities said to have been committed in the case, she would hold an inquiry headed by Joint Director Jammu along with other members. A Monitoring Cell has been set up in the Directorate for the purpose. She claimed that criminal cases would be lodged against those involved in the financial mess, if needed.
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