Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 3: Incredible but true. The State Government has engaged thousands of need based workers in various Departments on political considerations on whom crores of rupees have been released for wages.
Official documents in possession of the Excelsior revealed that the Government has engaged need based workers in Public Works Department (PWD), Power Development Department (PDD), Public Health Engineering (PHE), Floriculture and some other Departments on the directions, or, in some cases just verbal orders, of Ministers, former Ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), legislators and even Government officers.
“No formal order for engagement of need bases or daily wager workers have been issued but the wages were being paid/drawn by debiting them to on going schemes of the division’’, official sources said.
However, the documents mentioned that the Government Departments including PWD, PDD, PHE etc have paid crores of rupees as wages to the need based workers, majority of whom have been engaged purely on political considerations not only at the behest functionaries of ruling parties but also the Opposition and some Government officers.
The official document mentioned the names of a number of present Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of States, former Ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs, both sitting and former and Government officers at whose instance the concerned authorities have engaged the need based workers.
In some cases, the orders for engagement of need based workers have been issued on verbal orders of the Cabinet Ministers, which has also been recorded in the official documents.
Not to be left behind were the Presiding Officers of the Legislature, who have also recommended names of their ‘favourites’ for their engagements as need based workers.
Two Congress Ministers, presently in their capacity as Ministers and formerly MLAs, have recommended maximum names to the Government officers for engaging the need based workers.
According to sources, most of the youths engaged as need based workers were political activists of the ruling coalition partners, whose names have been recommended by the Ministers, legislators and others to the Government officers for engagement.
“To keep the mouth of some of the Opposition MLAs shut, their recommendations have also been accepted for engaging their nominees as need based workers’’, sources said, adding this was evident from the document in which names of Opposition MLAs have also been mentioned under the column ‘Authority of Appointment’.
Some of the Government officials, who might have facilitated engagement of need based workers referred by the political leadership of the State, have also taken their pound of flesh and engaged their nominees on need basis in different Departments.
Sources said a huge amount from the Government exchequer, running into several crores of rupees, has been disbursed as wages among these ‘political appointees’ during past three to four years.
“Though some of the need based workers could be working on the schemes, there was every possibility that majority of those recommended for engagement by the Ministers, legislators and other political leaders, might only be drawing wages and carrying out political activities at the behest of their mentors’’, sources said.
It may be mentioned here that the Government had on floor of the House stated during budget session in February-March, 2011 that it intended to appoint 40,000 casual workers for maintaining essential services in PDD, PHE, PWD, Floriculture, Horticulture and other Departments.
In budget session of the Legislature in February-March, 2012, the Government had reiterated its decision to engage 40,000 casual workers and said details for engaging the workers were being worked out by the General Administration Department (GAD).
However, the official documents now revealed that such appointments were being made for past three to four years on recommendations of the political leaders.
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