Wherever we function, certain cherished values must drive our action and they are integrity, fairness, responsibility and compassion and in turn, we enjoy lot of respect and acclaim. Having said that, the question is as to how mismanagement in allotment of huts and hotels in Srinagar owned (or taken on lease) and managed by Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) can be accounted for. In other words, some Government officials with good connections and wielding ‘effective’ influence have managed to get dual accommodation and undue benefit even though being posted in Jammu. A brazen instance of flouting of norms and misusing of public money. Due to such aberrant practices, several deserving officers of the judiciary and civil administration are feeling having been overlooked, ignored and thus getting no suitable accommodation. As a natural corollary, they are feel jittery so much so that they desire the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Secretary to take notice of the matter and intervene personally with intent to arrange undo the whole exercise.
Prudence demands that a well devised system, entirely on transparent basis should have been evolved to decide about the modalities of such allotment by the Estate Department and not on pick and choose basis or on the whims of the authority allowing or sanctioning such allotment. Hiring tourist huts in “mouth watering”, full of temptation and picturesque Chesmashahi and Parimahal Srinagar, in principle, for allotment to those officers working in Government offices and departments, we feel, is fundamentally wrong as the very location of such huts sends into everyone’s mind more about enjoying the scenery and comforts in the spirit of picnics than using the same just for accommodation purposes to serve people and perform duties.
The Estates Department should, on the contrary, hire rooms and accommodation in such hotels or houses which though of reasonable standard, were in no way conferring special and VIP status on the allot- tees. Government service, irrespective of any department or segment, means service with a commitment with reasonable facilities of accommodation and transport etc and not by staying put in resorts on beautiful hills and overseeing lakes andsnow peaked mountains, sceneries etc and thus getting tempted to lay hold on dual accommodation. Discriminations, conferring privileges and comforts and turning the exercise into feeding white elephants in a UT where income to Government from all sources is nowhere in comparison to expenditures or where there is no money even to be paid to poor daily wagers for months together, must be avoided. We, therefore, urge the General Administration Department to, at the outset, arrange undoing such wrongs in the allotments made by Estate Department and give a serious thought to what we have touched in respect of the issue under reference for a lasting resolution of the problems of irrational, undeserving and illogical allotments of costly accommodation at the cost of tax payers’ money.
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