Time for decisive corrective measures

Rajan Gandhi
Headlines of the last few days reveal the level of corruption and nepotism in Jammu and Kashmir, only names of Government officials and beneficiaries are different but the motive behind is quite obvious; fraud, deceit, money laundering, concealing facts, undue favours and what not. The most astonishing part is the mute silence of the established system to put a spanner on such kind of activities for decades now. Those who are supposed to safeguard public interests and ensure deliveries of services are themselves involved neck deep in the muddy business. It is absolutely clear that all is not well with our present Government men and machinery. No department has been left untouched by this epidemic of corruption.
First to hit the headlines is whopping two hundred sixty crores CA&PD scam in which money has been swindled on account of cost of wheat grains, transportation charges, labour charges, grinding charges drawn on the basis of fictitious bills during the period of May 2013 to April 2014, vehicles were shown in the wheat receipt statement of CA&PD but are non-existent either in the records of SRTC or in the records of FCI. As per records none of the mentioned vehicles were used for transportation of wheat from FCI godown to Trikuta Flour Mill Udhampur, a distance of mere 30 meters only. Moreover, some of the vehicles shown for transportation of food grains were found registered either as cars or two wheelers as per office record of RTO. List of persons raided include various assistant directors of CA&PD Udhampur, supervisors of Trikuta Floor Mill Udhampur, supervisors of FCI Udhampur, booking manager and depot clerk of SRTC Udhampur, owners of Trikuta Flour Mill Udhampur, contractor of SRTC and all this shows how well knit the nexus of corruption is at every level.
Second case is even more astonishing with raids on offices and residencies of eight former DCs of eight districts over issuance of over two lakh arms licenses, two officers have been arrested including one IAS officer which clearly shows the rot even at IAS level. Eight districts whose DCs are under scanner are Rajouri, Doda, Kishtwar, Udhampur in Jammu Division and Kupwara, Baramulla, Shopian, Pulwama in Kashmir with all these districts being terrorism affected as such every precaution should have been taken to issue every single license but as they say who will guard the fields when fence itself starts looting.
Third case in lime light is of Jammu and Kashmir Bank loan of former finance minister and his son. Flouting all norms of bank which restricts maximum loan of partnership firm to forty crores a loan of around seventy five crores was sanctioned despite the fact that same person had already entered an one time settlement with the State financial Corporation and further more loans were sanctioned in favour of accused by Board of Directors of the bank despite the fact accused being defaulter of first loan. Part of this one hundred seventy seven crore loan was spent on Paradise Avenue and rest allegedly used to purchase overseas properties in USA and UAE. Since major amount of money has been used to purchase overseas properties as such ACB has requested for transfer of case to CBI which has best reach and all the resources to handle the case and collect clinching evidences to prove in the court of law. As usual, one of the main accused is in government hospital since 24 January and now HC has directed to constitute a medical board to ascertain the actual medical condition of the accused.
Another issue hogging the headlines is of illegal mutations of Government land to the extent that illegal entries of nearly fifteen thousand kanals of government land have been cancelled in a week’s time in only five tehsils of Jammu. Sixteen more tehsils are still undergoing the same exercise as such many more cases of illegal entries will see the daylight. To fix the accountability and identification of culprit officials, Government has handed over the case to ACB for further investigation. Sill more astonishing is the fact that despite Division Bench of High Court asking Forest Department to submit the comprehensive list of persons who have encroached upon forest land illegally but department tried to conceal the influential persons as such HC has now directed to get the detailed list without any bias. This is not one odd case where government officials have repeatedly defied court in marking the UT land. What can be more painful example than that of retrieving land for airport expansion which despite court orders took over a decade. Stone pelting of police party and other Government officials causing injuries to JDA Vice Chairman and SHO Bakshi Nagar among others as protest against JDA’s demolition drive in Beli Charana along Niki Tawi area as per High Court directive to demolish illegal encroachments turned violent. The process got halted as usual citing law and order situation.
ACB has done a marvelous job till now but it has its own constraints and compulsions. Trained manpower shortage, frequent transfer of IOs, limitation of offices only in Jammu and Kashmir whereas frauds like bank loans have been committed Pan India and as such cannot be pursued to logical end in the court of law. It’s virtually impossible for a hundred odd person organization to handle corruption cases of five lakh plus employees in addition to the beneficiaries.
Transfer industry in Jammu and Kashmir is another Achilles heel for government as it has not been able to address this till now. Scores of employees getting transferred daily defying clear guidelines by LG office. It seems there is no transfer policy for doctors with hospitals having OT but no surgeons or have surgeons but no anesthetist as such whole work load comes on GMCs and no attention has been paid till now to address the issue. Why, reasons best known to authorities or vested interests are ruling the roost. Pay disparity as compared to other states is another long pending issue for doctors. Same is the case with teachers as new degree colleges have teachers of a particular subject but no student and some having students of a particular stream but no faculty. Case of engineers is still more intriguing with some have never got posted outside Jammu and some have struggled for over a decade to get posted at their home districts, with some getting transferred within six months thereby jeopardizing continuity and hampering development work. In charge is the most dreaded word of engineering lobby with even chief engineers getting salary of just AE. Repeated transfer of head of departments is really astonishing with a single line, ‘In the interest of administration.’JMC is a practical example with repeated shuttling of Commissioner, sometimes within few months.
Detailed review of 54 PMDP projects including IIM Jammu, IIT Jammu, 12 Tourism Development Authorities, five tourism circuits, 50 tourism villages, construction of Srinagar and Jammu semi-ring roads, Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch road, four-laning of NH-1A at Jammu-Udhampur, Chenani-Nashri, Qazigund-Banihal and Srinagar-Banihal sections, creation of AIIMS at Jammu and Srinagar and restoration of damaged horticulture areas is an eye opener, as in absence of proper monitoring and follow up, inspections and audits delays and deferments are the order of the day. All on ground problem needs to be addressed as mere instructions or exhortations are of no use. Each and every project is delayed by years. Inquiry into Tawi Barrage and repeated delay in commissioning of Jammu Ropeway are practical examples of the official mess we are in.
Mobile data ban of seven months has already caused immense loss and resentment but right now the focus has been on renaming university, airport or different chowks which has not gone well with the public. Completion of the projects is the need of the hour. It doesn’t matter whether its Maharaja Hari Singh airport or some other name, what matters is an all weather landing facility which is missing as of now and same is the case in renaming chowks instead of focus on decongesting roads, building ample parking space and other amenities. It’s already second year of central rule and fifth month since UT status as such misleading priorities will never fulfill public aspirations.
Earlier 2014 floods came to the rescue of corrupt as almost every department claimed destruction of documents in the floods but now GoI has shown its intent of zero tolerance for corrupt and there are enough indications that some more officers and politicians being nabbed in coming days. In J&K Bank case loan defaulters are in the net of law but board of directors who flouted every rule to give undue benefits are still out, act on them, make all these as exemplary cases. It’s important to get culprits behind bars but it’s equally important to make accountable Government officials. Time has come to take decisive corrective measures to logical conclusions; after all it’s a matter of restoring public faith in the system.
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