Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 1: Ridiculing the tall slogans of transparency, good governance and corruption free dispensation in J&K, JKNPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh today accused the current dispensation of allowing open loot of tax payers’ money besides illegal encroachment of Govt properties and Estates bungalows by BJP leaders.
He said that despite the Assembly having been dissolved in 2018, the corrupt bureaucrats had allowed the BJP leaders to retain the Govt mansions including ministerial bungalows in defiance of the SOPs and in blatant circumvention of the orders of the High Court. “Not only were the said leaders allowed to illegally retain the Estates bungalows but several of them had been permitted to stay therein without paying any rent,” Singh said while addressing a press conference in Jammu today.
Referring to the reply obtained by him yesterday in response to an RTI application, Singh said that the rent outstanding against the BJP leaders ran into lakhs with the Estates Deptt authorities failing to act against such defaulters and illegal encroachers due to an unholy officer–politician nexus prevailing in the Department. Pointing towards the details provided to him in RTI reply, Singh revealed that highest defaulter was Sunil Sharma against whom an amount of Rs 4,02,186 was outstanding as rent as on August 31, 2021 in respect of Bungalow No. 14 Special, Gandhi Nagar. Likewise, the rent outstanding against RS Pathania in respect of Bungalow No.6 Ghulami Bagh amounted to Rs 1,35,546 as on the same date as per the reply provided by the Govt. Likewise, the other defaulters included Ravinder Raina owing Rs 70, 993; Kavinder Gupta, Rs 38,331; Neelam Langeh Rs 38,936; Bali Bhagat Rs 25,554; Pardeep Sharma Rs 95,492. Not only the Ex-MLAs and MLCs of BJP were allowed to retain the Govt bungalows illegally but one Manohar Lal general secretary BJP was allotted Estates accommodation in Gandhi Nagar and he owed Rs 92,104 as rent with not a single penny having been paid by him.
The BJP leaders even have not paid the power tariff bills which amounted to lakhs, while the power connections of poor families were cut off for non-payment of even a few hundred of rupees. It is mere loot of public exchequer, Singh alleged.
Similarly, several officers who had been allotted Ladakh UT and were no more serving in J&K UT had also been allotted Estates bungalows in Gandhi Nagar Jammu defying all logic and rationale. At least 44 Govt officers were lodged in private bungalows in Jammu alone putting huge burden on state exchequer.
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