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| Over Rs 45 cr scam surfaces in PHE Samba division, probe nowhere in sight | | Late Hoshiar Singh's RTI application pending for disposal | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Sept 27: If the allegations being leveled by locals are to be believed, scam worth more than Rs. 45 crores has surfaced in the Samba division of Public Health and Engineering (PHE) Department.
Sources said that the scam surfaced in year 2008 when the then IDP General Secretary Late Hoshiar Singh lodged written complaint with committee on estimates of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly during their maiden visit to Samba. He had even briefed the committee about the manner in which efforts were being made to silence him.
The complaint of Late Hoshiar Singh, who was martyred by terrorists on May 11, 2008, was based on documentary evidence, statement and affidavits by concerned local people. Complaint included instances of gross violations of the existing codal provisions and desecration of the directions of higher authorities issued from time to time and defilement of engineering specifications by the concerned officers of PHE.
Pertaining to period from 2004 to 2008, Late Hoshiar Singh's complaint which he duly submitted to the then committee of estimates and a copy of which is also with Early Times, maintains that officials of PHE posted then in Samba were looting state exchequer by preparing and furnishing of false, fabricated, fictitious statements and reports.
He has accused the then officers of PHE of using old, unsafe, and dilapidated pipes in new schemes, non-maintenance of the record of absolute and surplus storage and less payment, than the actual amount withdrawn, to the workers. If documents attached with the complaint are to be relied upon, government has by design not initiated an inquiry.
The complaint goes on to claim that chairman of then estimates committee along with members visited Samba on January 10, 2006 and held an open Durbar wherein record supporting the allegations was handed over to committee members in the presence of locals. Being convinced about the prima-facie of the allegations, the committee ad then assured the people to hold thorough investigation into the allegations. For doing the job, a departmental inquiry committee was also constituted.
Committee heard the complainants, collected the record and left with the assurance of visiting the spots along with complainants and witnesses. However, five years have passed and much has changed during this period, none bothered to hear Samba people again. Hoshiar Singh was martyred under suspicious circumstances by terrorists on May 11, 2008. After Hoshiar Singh was martyred, the probe too vanished in thin air.
An RTI application filed by Hoshiar Singh, seeking details of the inquiry initiated by the PHE department is still pending for disposal. None in the department bothered to dig deep and unveil murky nexus behind alleged bunglings worth crores of rupees in Samba division of PHE department. Locals allege that either departmental inquiry committee failed to take bull by horns or persons involved in this multi-crore scam are so powerful that they made the committee ineffective.
Committee's hesitation to involve the complainants and the witnesses to pin point the bungled spots is a self-explanatory fact that the committee constituted to dig out the truth dumped the reality and not only this, all the officials who served PHE Samba division between 2004 to 2008 and are allegedly involved in the scam have been awarded promotions and more recently prize postings. (To be continued) |
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