Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Nov 1: "Commission" is the word used by contractors while they allegedly pay bribe to engineers in lieu of the works they execute under their supervision in PWD, PHE, UEED, JKPCC and various other Government departments. But the Tuesday's incident of recovery of fake Indian currency (IC) notes from the graft amount (commission) of an executive engineer (Xen) is giving field engineers sleepless nights.
Commission is shared by almost everyone from bottom to top in engineering section, and from a peon to an accountant in non-engineering section. In some cases, gold jewellery and other expensive gifts are also given to a few at the top. Everything has been going on very smoothly, with no one having ever made any complaint of corruption against anyone.
It is believed that the contractors, who give more commission to engineers, get maximum works. Some engineers were even alleged to have formed their own construction companies.
But the arrest of Xen Manu Karwal of Roop Nagar along with Rs 65,000 fake currency notes, which were alleged to be part of his Rs 1.4 lakh commission, has alerted the engineering community across the State.
Manu, picked up by Nowabad police from Jewel area here on Tuesday while he was in his car, was alleged to have received the commission from JE Sharifudin and contractor Lal Din, both residents of Kupwara, against a work executed by them under his overall supervision. He was at present posted in the PHE office at Kupwara and the JE worked under him.
The JE and the contractor were too arrested after it allegedly became known that the Xen had got the money from them as his commission, according to police sources.
Sources said after this incident, the engineers here were avoiding the acceptance of commission from contractors, especially from those who belonged to Kashmir and other militancy infested parts of the State. Some of them had even approached their acquaintances in banks to know about the methods needed to identify the fake currency notes, the sources added.
In PWD, PHE, UEED and JKPCC, the news was the topic of discussion since Tuesday. Officials and contractors could be seen showing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination IC notes to each other, trying to find out the difference between the fake and the original notes.
It was felt that the contractors, who hailed from the militancy-hit J&K villages, could under pressure agree to accept fake money, which was being pumped into the State through hawala channels from Pakistan.
"The possibility of choosing contractors for the purpose was more because of their almost daily visits to towns and cities in connection with their work," the sources added.
While paying commissions, these fake currency notes could be mixed with the original notes as an easy way to float them in the market, feel engineers.
One such nexus was few years back exposed by police at Bari Brahamana, where payments to labourers contained fake currency notes. Three persons were apprehended by police at Poonch a few days back after they were found in possession of the fake currency of Rs 45,000.
Sources said while the police interrogation of Manu, Sharifudin and Lal Din was in progress, they could be sent to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) here to know about the source of the fake currency and other related details.
It was now almost established that the fake currency had come from Pakistan for militants, the sources added, saying it was, however, yet to be ascertained if the Xen and the two other accused had any links with hawala operatives. |
