Jairam Thakur Questions NGO Offer of Rs 97 Lakh Amid Corruption Allegations
Jairam Thakur, former CM and Leader of Opposition
Shimla, February 27: The Leader of opposition, Jairam Thakur has strongly objected to the favor worth Rs 97 lakh given by the current state government to an NGO while accusing it of favoritism and corruption. In a statement from Shimla today, Thakur said that the Chief Minister Sukhu-led government had become a symbol of scams and corruption in Himachal Pradesh. He cited the example of a department — recently reported in the newspapers — the Social and Empowerment Department — through which certain projects of certain NGOs worth Rs 97 lakh were approved by the department without any action against them as recommended.
Thakur claimed that top IAS officers were playing a supporting role for NGOs to whom red flags had been raised for lapses. These NGOs had to face action by the competent authorities, he said, adding that junior officers within the government such as secretaries had recommended such action for years but senior officials of relevant departments were turning a blind eye and peddling projects against rules and giving conditional clearances. That, he argued, raised pivotal questions about who was driving the decisions.
Thakur’s comments, meanwhile, reflect charges that the government is engaging in the “corruption” that he said happens when projects go to favoured NGOs because of collusion behind closed doors rather than through prescribed process. He then went on to ask the most important question: who gave the verbal green light to these approvals when the actions to be taken were crystal clear? “Higher taxes on the citizens of the state but the rulers let the funds intended for the public work to be misappropriated for others,” Thakur stated.
Thakur informed that the irregularities came to the fore during a meeting of the State Level Multi-disciplinary Grant Assistance Committee (MDDGI). The registration of three NGOs in Kangra had originally been rejected by the committee on the grounds of irregularities and it recommended the cancellation of their registration. The meeting deployed a opinion approving this decision. But then, for no or little reason, the proposals were conditionally approved even though the Department Secretary recommended that the projects should be sent to the Central Government. This is a clear case of wrongdoing deviating from the earlier decision, Thakur pointed out.
He also asked why the government was not taking action against it in over a month now. He sought to know from Chief Minister Sukhu as to why this kind of cronyism was allowed to continue, and what action had been taken to probe and punish the culprits of these irregularities. If the Chief Minister did not bring the errant leaders in line, then it would lead to serious questions about his role in allowing such gross mismanagement, Thakur said.
Thakur’s statement also referred to other alleged cases of misuse of funds by the Central Government. He reminded that once Rs 2.5 crore was misappropriated in the name of human labor at uniform closed trauma center at IGMC and Rs 8.75 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Yojana was also misused for the construction of security wall for a private company. These cases, he said, were just a sign of increasing corruption and incompetence under the current administration.
Thakur, in his concluding remarks, urged the government to stop shielding corruption and immediately initiate efforts to recover the diverted money. He described the central government projects as only bringing continuous delays that will be harmful to the development of the state and affecting citizen welfare.
The current political crisis in Himachal Pradesh has exposed the underbelly of the state government and raised questions over transparency in power corridors, especially if these allegations follow through with a proper investigation by judiciary or independent authorities.
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