Round
The States
New Delhi, 6 June 2020
MGNREGA Scam
RANCHI SETS ALARM BELLS RINGING
By Insaf
Crooked running of
MGNREGA in Jharkhand may just be tip of the iceberg. Its Rural Development Dept
has indulged in mega corruption under the Scheme—“excavators replaced
labourers, work only on paper, and attempts to hoodwink auditors with fake
pictures,” in Chatra district’s Pratappur block at a cost of Rs 25 lakh, as per
NREGA Watch report! Probe into 7 completed jobs -- building dirt road/digging six
ponds revealed the road was missing even as Rs 46,000 was paid for in 2013 and
ponds, in 2018-19, were dug using machines, instead of manual labour. The
MGNREGA Additional Commissioner has terminated contracts of all 14 persons
involved and ordered recovery of misappropriated amount with 12% interest. It
comes out that though real labourers were paid, government money was being
siphoned off through ‘fake labourers on muster roll’, or that ‘excavators used
in digging an irrigation well costing Rs 3.81 lakh and muster roll was not
generated’! While new audit rules are being applied, there is need for extra
vigil given that 3 schemes are launched to provide work for 5 lakh migrant
workers having returned. Other State governments need to follow Ranchi as it’s certain
they too would have skeletons in their cupboards.
* * * * * * *
Gujarat
Seat Politics
It’s the season for
poaching and desertions in Gujarat. Election to four Rajya Sabha seats is due
on 19 June. The Congress, already smarting with five of its MLAs having
resigned in March bringing its tally to 68, suffered another blow on Thursday
last. Two MLAs, if not three, have quit the party putting a big question mark
in the grand old party’s plans to win two of the four seats. Odd as it may
sound, the Congress may have expected something like this, as the BJP can poach
on members in other States, Gujarat is home ground. The State leaders got into
damage control and but efforts to contact the MLAs came to a naught. Worse, it
is feared a third is on its way out too. The saffron party’s strength is 103 in
the House and can win two seats, and rival Congress, left with 68 MLAs, was
hopeful of getting the other two. However, with its numbers reducing further,
it’s going to be very tough and with near two weeks more to go there could be
many a slip between the cup and the lip.
* * * * * * *
Uttarakhand’s
Uncared Centres
Quarantine centres in
villages of Uttarakhand have caught the High Court’s attention. Noting these are the “worst of the lot” with
pitiable condition and “extremely poor” hygienic condition of toilets, the
two-judge bench on Tuesday last asked authorities in four districts – Dehradun, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar to personally
visit these and file reports. This follows reports of District Legal Service
Authorities who were asked by the court to inspect these centres and file
reports. It was found the centres functioning in Government Primary Schools/
Secondary Schools had ‘no facilities to provide food to inmates, instead it’s being
provided by villagers and inmates’ family members; only 1-2 toilets were in centres
with over 20-30 inmates; worse most were not clean... Shockingly, the court
found Gram Sabhas to be cash strapped despite a May 4 Government order, wherein
District Magistrates were asked to coordinate with Gram Sabhas and Pradhans and
allot them funds to ensure these centres were run properly! The question to be
asked is did the DMs follow orders? Did they provide the funds? The authorities’
reports as directed must shed light and have answers.
* * * * * * *
AP
Clever by Half!
Andhra Pradesh
government of Jaganmohan Reddy has had to eat crow. The Supreme Court on
Wednesday last, directed it remove the colours of the ruling YSR Congress painted
on Gram Panchayat buildings in the State within 4 weeks, upholding the AP High
Court order. It was firm that HC’s 10 March order didn’t warrant interference
as there is no ambiguity i.e. any colour which is similar to the flag of any
political party shouldn’t be used for painting those buildings. And while the
government has been given more time to comply with the order (HC had given 10
days and another 3 weeks), it couldn’t upstage the court as tried. The Chief
Secretary drew up a fresh set of guidelines on colour combination on April 23 as
directed by the HC, but as these still didn’t comply with the court’s order,
the HC initiated contempt proceedings. While these were disposed of by the SC,
the government will do well to remember the phrase ‘too clever by half’. It
doesn’t pay off!
* * * * * * *
WB
Rapprochement?
Is a rapprochement in
the offing between the Heads of State and Government in West Bengal? So it’s
hoped after Governor Dhankar dialled Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on
Wednesday last, over the contentious appointment of Burdwan University’s
Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Raj Bhavan wants to “put a lid on the controversy”,
wherein Dhankar, who is Chancellor of State universities and Didi had appointed
different candidates for the coveted post. Citing reasons of the State ‘going
through a crisis’ and ‘to contain the situation in interest of education’, the
Governor appears to have relented leaving ‘the call to the Chief Minister’. If
that actually being the case, the appointment of Prof Goutam Chandra as Pro-VC
by Dhankar shall go into cold storage and Didi’s candidate Ashis Panigrahi will
come out as the winner. Be that as it may, the canvass is wider. What lies in
the future? Should Didi see better times ahead as Dhakar went to the extent
saying she should use her judgment and discretion to find a way out and “also
have a mechanism in place so such issues do not arise in future. I wish to
close this unfortunate chapter…” Is there a healing touch?
* * *
* * * *
Death
of an Elephant
The death of a
pregnant elephant in God’s own country has become a political hot potato. Centre and Vijayan government are engaged in
veiled charges. Apparently, the elephant strayed into a village in Palakkad district,
Kerala last week, ate a ‘pineapple filled with firecrackers’, which exploded in
its mouth and it walked for days in pain before going into a river, where it
died standing on 27 May. A video went viral on social media. Environment
Minister Javadekar shot off a letter to Chief Secretary saying the Ministry
takes note of it with ‘utmost concern especially as it happened in a state
which reveres elephants... the incident is even more brutal and inhumane as the
elephant was pregnant.” Plus, tweets on Thursday last: “...This is not an
Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill.” Vijayan responds saying 3
culprits are suspected and they will be brought to justice, but shares more
anguish. “We are saddened by the fact some have used this tragedy to unleash a
hate campaign (against the State). Lies built upon inaccurate descriptions and
half truths were employed to obliterate the truth. Some even tried to import
bigotry into the narrative. Wrong priorities”. Indeed, in the times of Corona!
---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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