news details |
|
|
| Govt's claims on good governance, transparency, accountability a hoax: Harsh Dev Singh | | |  Early Times Report
UDHAMPUR, Mar 5: Accusing the government of giving vague and nauseating slogans of good governance, transparency and accountability, Harsh Dev Singh Chairman-JKNPP questioned the non-payment of compensation to the farmers whose lands and structures were acquired for construction of PMGSY roads since 2012 onwards. Singh while addressing a press conference said that not only the marginal land holdings of farmers were expropriated for construction of rural roads without paying them any compensation but several structures and residential houses on the alignment of the said roads were also dismantled without compensating the affected persons. He said that the poor farmers were made to shuttle from one office to the other without any relief thereby causing massive uproar in the affected areas.
Singh said that the PMGSY department had deposited compensation for houses and structures in 2012 for majority of the roads as per the reply provided in RTI applications, with the collectors and SDMs. It was however shocking to note that the said payments had not been disbursed further to the affected land/house owners thereby suggesting embezzlement and diversion of the funds meant for rural poor.
He said that the bonafide payments having been denied to the eligible persons, the delinquent officers needed to be made accountable and dealt with under law. He said that compensation amount released by PMGSY was reportedly being denied only to earn interest on the said funds thereby making a mockery of all haughty claims of transparency and corruption free dispensation.
Singh said that while the powerful and influential people were being ensured interrupted power supply despite pendency of huge power bills, the poor and indigent marginalized masses were being harassed with inflated billing and resultant power disconnections. He said that hefty bills were being sent to people in rural areas which did not conform to actual units consumed by them as per the meters installed by the department.
Regretting the non-payment of claims of Panchayats under MGNREGA pending for the last 5-6 years, Singh said that government apathy towards the rural local bodies had created massive resentment in the villages. He divulged that the pending liability under MGNREGA in District Udhampur alone for the last six years amounted to Rs. 18 crore as admitted by the RDD Udhampur with no action initiated to release the same. He said that several works in RDD in Udhampur district were allowed to linger for years with all complaints relating to corrupt practices in the functioning of the department having been thrown under the carpet.
"Likewise, several villages were shown to have been provided drinking water in papers without any delivery on the ground. The non-functional hand-pumps were not being restored or repaired by the ground water department with hardly any takers for the shrill cries of public protesting on day to day basis against the Jal Shakti department. The most distressing aspect of the mal-governance was the lack of access of the masses with the officers and bureaucrats who hardly entertained the aggrieved visiting deputations or their grievances and had relinquished the responsibility to hold field visits to take stock of the problems of the people," said Singh. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
