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| Vandalisation of Govt quarters rampant | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
JAMMU, NOV: 24 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s colleagues have been told to cut spending by carrying out only the bare minimum alterations in their houses. Mr Abdullah, who also is in charge of the Estates Department, recently asked the ministers to curb expenses.
He is reported to have set a limit of Rs 18 lakh for six years, meaning Rs 3 lakh per annum, for the ministers. It is another matter that some of them have already spent many times over in the first year itself.
It is now expected that the ministers will not waste money in carrying out unnecessary changes in the accommodation provided by the government. The ceiling on expenses apparently includes the expenses incurred on furniture etc.
According to some Estates Department officials, the ministers routinely spend lakhs of rupees, sometimes even crores, on refurbishing their houses. This leads to colossal wastage every time a new ministry is sworn in, they pointed out
Unfortunately, similar curbs on spending do not exist in case of hundreds of government quarters, they lamented. This leads to a situation wherein the quarters are vandalised annually, they added.
Elaborating, an official said that at the time of the Durbar Move, they get complaints that taps, sinks, water pump motors etc are missing. On receiving the complaints, the shortfall has to be met and expenses incurred, he pointed out.
Often, the government quarters are allotted to the same government employees every six months, particularly those who work in the civil secretariat and are called move employees. Yet, these employees lodge complaints that the taps and other sanitary fittings were missing.
In some cases, even the toilet seats, particularly western type commode seats, and even wash basins go missing every six months. These have to be provided afresh by the Estates Department and it becomes a recurring expense, he pointed out.
He said this can be changed if the department were to adopt more stringent norms and the handing over and taking over of the quarters is made a well-defined process. Every time an employee is allotted a particular house, he/she should be asked to give an undertaking that he/she will be personally responsible for any wanton damage to the property. This way accountability can be ensured, he added.
For now, however, periodic vandalisation of government quarters, particularly at the time of the six-monthly durbar move is a grim reality. |
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