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| Govt clarification contradicting RTI reply | | Justification unfair in view of J&K's fiscal health | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 14 : Even if, as the Government claims, the chopper sorties, during the last three years, were carried out for carrying not only the Chief Minister but other ministers, senior bureaucrats to various areas in connection with their official work the expenses of over Rs.11 crores on fuel, establishment and maintenance charges is quite high in the context of the fiscal health of Jammu and Kashmir. The clarification issued by the Government while justifying expenses on the chopper services seem to be untenable because it has claimed that the chopper sorties were carried out during natural calamities, including earthquakes. Fortunately after 2005 the state was not rattled and rocked by any major tremors. If one reads between the lines the reply given to a question asked by one RTI activist the Government had made it clear that most of the time the chopper was used by the Chief Minister, Hence the Government spokesman's attempt at trying to explain that the chopper was used for carrying central ministers, ministers of state and other senior bureaucrats to distant places for official work seems to be a futile exercise.
In the reply to the RTI activists it has been clearly indicated that about Rs.12 crores were spent on the use of helicopter by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, between 2009 and June 2011.Nowhere in the reply it has been mentioned that the chopper services were used for taking ministers and senior bureaucrats to distant areas in the state for official work. The Government clarification claims that Chief Minister had visited the tourist resorts not for rest and relaxation but for reviewing development schemes.However,field reports have not supported the Government clarification. Well anything that can be said in support of Omar Abdullah is that his successors, especially his father,Farooq Abdullah, had usually preferred to fly by the Government helicopter not only to various places in the state but also between Srinagar and Jammu, Jammu and Delhi and Delhi and Srinagar. It was in the beginning of his rule that Mufti Mohd.Sayeed opted for a different policy after he directed the pilot to keep the helicopter in the hangar.
When he was told that keeping the chopper in the hangar for a number of days the machine may rust he too developed taste for using the chopper for visiting distant places. He, at the sametime,avoided visiting SKICC and other tourist resorts in a helicopter. The weak fiscal health does not allow the Government to take liberties on fuel expenses.In fact the need is for observing austerity measures in all its activities. Despite its repeated commitments the Government has not been in a position to observe austerity measures with the result the the state has been facing acute cash crunch forcing it to bank on the doles from the centreS.In the absence of this exercise the
Government clarification seems a big joke .Just a small para of the Government clarification will convince one of the futility of the exercise.It says that It is important to understand that Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) also undertakes the task of flying the Governor, Union Ministers, Ministers of the State and senior Government officials of the State and Government of India; apart from key police officers in emergency situations. DCA also carries out casualty evacuations, polling duties, cash couriers to far-flung areas and flying people in Gurez and Tanghdar areas during winters when the road gets blocked. It ferries Ministers and officials during natural calamities like earthquake, floods, road blockages due to landslides and village fires and damages due to hailstorms and storms. Since the state was not afflicted by such natural calamities use of helicopter for relief and rescue work may not hold much water.(eom) |
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