Leadership connivance in corruption of regime!

Even the cover story of latest issue of a Tamil bi-weekly is captioned as “b#.rh£il 2: Ju¤j¥g£l nfhéš jdghš” (‘Jayalalitha whip 2: Exit of Temple Dhanapal). No need to read the full article as it would state that corruption charges were leveled against the sacked Commissioner of the HR&CE department P. Dhanapal which has led Jayalalitha to direct the ADMK government to sack him.
The ADMK government on March 8 appointed M Veera Shanmugha Moni IAS as the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board in place of P Dhanapal, Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan announced. Moni had been posted as secretary of the Labour and Employment department.
Dhanapal, who had been working as a Deputy Commissioner of the board, was out of the way appointed Commissioner soon after the ADMK government assumed charge in 2011, despite being the fact that he was not an IAS official. Normally, only IAS officials are appointed as commissioner of the board. Though he retired in 2013, the government extended his services for three years from May 31, 2013. A case was filed in the Madras High Court against the extension of his services. However, the court ruled in his favour, and he continued in the post. His sudden removal has raised eyebrows among officials. Why did Jayalalitha first appoint him as the Commissioner out of the way? Why did she also give extension even after his retirement? Was it all without any reciprocal obligation?
As commissioner of the HR&CE, Dhanapal had been super-enthusiastically functioning virtually as a ruling party functionary by ‘fulfilling’ the wishes of Jayalalitha. After her arrest and disqualification, an oral order was said to have been issued to the executive officers of all temples in the State to get in touch with the local ADMK functionaries and arrange for the first ‘ artha jama’ pooja to the deity in the name of Jayalalitha on all days on their behalf. Now on the occasion of her 67th birth day, the Forest department took up the task of planting 67 lakh tree saplings out of which 6,700 ‘vilva tree (Aeges Marmelos) saplings’ (on religious consideration) were planned to be planted in Saivaite temples. The department made huge arrangements for Ministers and officials planting the saplings in temples and all temples in the State have been taken over by ADMK functionaries for conducting homums, Yagas, and poojas with the portraits of Jayalalitha over shadowing the statues of deities, even the tallest Anjaneyar statue in Nanganallur in Chennai.
Now, it has come to light that this Dhanapal is said to have grabbed properties of Tiruvanmiyur Maruntheeswarar temple worth Rs.100 crore, committed irregularities in Annadhanam schemes, took bribes for temple appointments, committed irregularities in temple land hiring etc., He was also charged of conducting kumbabishekam (renovation) of 1,000 temples every year without completing works under Agama rules. It is also said that he threatened the trustee of a private temple in Thyagaraya Nagar, Chennai, reported to be very close to Jayalalitha, to part with temple properties to the government or pay him half of the amount of worth of the properties.
After his removal, it is reported that many lower ranking officials are coming out with allegations against him. He appointed his choicest persons as EO in temples with more than Rs.10 lakh income, through which fraud to the tune of about Rs.1000 crore were committed in various ways like rent, land rent and sales. Particularly, 140 acres of land of Tiruchendur Murugan temple, temple lands of 5 acres in Madurai and 10 acres in Kovilpatti were sold for very low prices in which several crore rupees is said to have changed hands. 10 acre land that was donated to Palani Murugan temple was grabbed. Permission was granted to a VIP to irregularly mine minerals in the lands of a temple in Tirunelveli district. Similarly jewels worth several crore rupees in Tiruvarur and Madurai temples were melted and sold, it is reported.
It is also said that all these money earned in such irregular ways were used for buying lands and buildings in benami names. Particularly, the official is said to have amassed  ground land in Poonamalli, 4.5 acre land in East Coast Road, four marriage halls in Tiruvannamalai and Coimbatore, a bungalow in Besant Nagar etc. and if a proper enquiry was conducted by the government further details will come out, the officials said.
He is also said to have whimsically placed under suspension seven joint commissioners, two assistant commissioners and two deputy commissioners, 25 executive officers, all of them sending representations to the “people’s CM” Jayalalitha.
Could all these irregularities and frauds be committed by an official unduly favoured by Jayalalitha by out-of-the way posting and extension after retirement without her knowledge and ‘connivance’? If not she must ask the government to order an enquiry into all the charges leveled against him and recover the money due to temples. Until then doubts will be cast on her!
Now, Agriculture Minister Agri’ S S Krishnamoorthy was dropped from the Cabinet, following pressure from the people in connection with the suicide of an Agricultural department engineer in Tirunelveli unable to bear pressure from the Minister’s office over appointment of seven drivers on temporary basis at a consolidated monthly pay of Rs.9,000. He was asked to facilitate bribes or face action.
Krishnamurthy was made Food Minister when Jayalalitha assumed office on May 16, 2011.  Later in July 2011, his portfolio was changed as Commercial Taxes and Registration.  On July 19, 2012, Krishnamurthy was made School Education Minister.  Later, on January 26, 2012, he was dropped from the Council of Ministers.  After a gap of one and half year, Krishnamurthy was made as Agriculture Minister on May 19, 2014. Now, political morality required Jayalalitha to come out with reasons for his re-induction into the Cabinet after he was sacked earlier following complaints.
Earlier, Jayalalitha on September 5 last year dropped Madhavaram V. Moorthy as Milk and Dairy Development Minister and re-inducted B.V.Ramanaa. Ramanaa, Tiruvallur MLA, had been a Minister since the ADMK returned to power in 2011 and held the portfolio of Handlooms and Textiles, Environment and Forests, and later on Revenue. Jayalalitha dropped him from the Cabinet on May 19, 2014. With the exit for Moorthy and the re-entry for Ramanaa, the Cabinet was reshuffled for over 15 times during Jayalalitha’s current term as Chief Minister.
The irregularities in Aavin operations led to the exit of Moorthy. They pointed out that only a few days ago, three senior Aavin officials were placed under suspension on the charge of adulteration. Jayalalitha had also removed a contractor-couple Vaidayanathan and his wife from the party after their Aavin links were traced. The trial in the case is going on.
‘The Economic Times’ daily published a detailed report on the Rs. One lakh crore mineral sand scandal in southern district mainly by VV Minerals owned by Vaikuntarajan, close to Jayalalitha and a major partner in Jaya TV. DMK Treasurer Thalapathi M.K.Stalin is openly challenging the regime of the scam offering to face prosecution. A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court. But there was no response from the regime of Jayalalitha, ostensibly because of their connivance in the scam.
In July 2012, four young district collectors dared to defy pressure from ADMK politicians in recruiting staff for Anganwadis and nutritious-meal centres where 61 lakh children are fed for free every day. The fearless four were reported to have chosen to follow in the footsteps of M. Balaji, the Virduhunagar district collector who was the first to ring in a transparent appointment system despite strings pulled by ADMK Ministers and MLAs keen to push their nominees.
Balaji’s punishment transfer has not deterred the four. “There were pressures, both political and from some of our own higher officers, but we did not yield,” said one of the collectors.
There was no co-ordinated move among them, the collector said, only the “burning desire that the right people get the jobs since they would be feeding thousands of children”.
The four are Anshul Mishra of Madurai, Ashish Kumar of Tuticorin, Anu George of Ariyalur and Darez Ahamed of Perambalur. Their action has stung the ruling party politicians, who are said to have taken bribes of Rs 1-3 lakhs for this menial jobs.
Balaji came up with a centralised, eligibility-based system for processing job applications in June, spurning pressure and phone calls from local ADMK bigwigs. To block backdoor entries after the selection process ended, he had appointment letters delivered to candidates within a week of their interviews.
Bristling after being thwarted, the ADMK functionaries, including a few Ministers, are reported to have got Balaji shunted out of the district on July 2, 2012 and placed him on compulsory wait without any posting. The bigwigs, who had hoped Balaji’s transfer would make others fall in line, got a second jolt when the four district collectors similarly rolled out a transparent selection process, weeding out ineligible and influential candidates.
Anshul Mishra issued a statement saying job aspirants could complain to him directly if anyone demanded money in exchange for the posts. When a widow told him she had paid a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh, he promised her a job on condition that she retrieved the money.“Many were misled into believing that they could sell the provisions of the noon-meal centre in black and recover their bribe money, which is just another way of perpetrating a corrupt system,” Mishra said. Anu George asked Tahsildars and BDOs to hand-deliver appointment letters to ensure the right candidates received them. Darez Ahamed sent officials to check out the social status of candidates and weeded out well-off ones living in big houses but claiming to live in huts.
But other than these four districts, in other districts the ruling party functionaries and Ministers made huge collections in these postings. The government filled up vacancies for 4,373 noon-meal centre organisers, 5,717 cooks and 6,703 assistant cooks. Among these posts, 25 per cent are reserved for widows and the destitute and 25 per cent for internal promotion. Three per cent is reserved for differently abled persons. The only qualification is a pass in class X for organisers, Class VIII for cooks and Class V for assistants. But they have to reside within a 3 km radius of their place of work.
The organisers get a salary of Rs 2,500-5,000, cooks Rs.1,300-3,000 and assistant cooks Rs. 950-Rs.2,000. They also get dearness allowance, house rent allowance, city compensatory allowance and medical allowance along with 3 per cent annual increment. They are paid lumpsum retirement benefits.
‘The Times of India’ on March 10 carried a report on the first page under the caption “In TN, money decides recruitment, posting, promotion and transfer” which stated:
“Rumblings against corruption in the State administration are getting louder after former Agriculture Minister Agri SS Krishnamurthy’s unceremonious exit from the cabinet over the suicide of an Agriculture department executive engineer S Muthukumarasamy in Tirunelveli last month. Krishnamurthy’s office had allegedly harassed the official to manipulate the selection process for recruitment of drivers in the department. Not able to bear the ordeal, the official jumped before a running train.
Every department has shocking tales to narrate about corruption. A powerful VIP convened regional meetings of aided college principals and secretaries about two years ago to raise money from appointments of assistant professors. One of the college secretaries, who attended one such meeting at Tirunelveli circuit house, said, “The VIP’s PA had summoned both principals and secretaries. The meeting started in the night and the VIP called us one by one into his room and said unless we paid money to him, appointments of new assistant professors would not be approved. He demanded Rs 5 lakh per post from minority institutions and Rs 7 lakh per post from non-minority institutions. If we could not collect money from the candidates, he said he himself would identify suitable candidates”. Since then, most college managements have been collecting extra money, over and above Rs 5-10 lakh they collect from candidates, for appointing assistant professors.
In the police department, deputy superintendents of police and inspectors pay money to middlemen to secure transfers to preferred locations. “While DSPs pay Rs.4-10 lakh depending on the district and city, inspectors pay Rs 2-3 lakh for transfers,” said an official. “A relative of a senior official in Chennai is a prominent collection agent. Anybody who gives money to that agent gets the posting of his choice,” the official said.
Corruption has pervaded all levels of the State administration that people now take it for granted, said MG Devasahayam, a retired bureaucrat. “It has destroyed the basic fabric of the administration, because people get into a position by bribing and also stay there by bribing. There is money in appointments, postings, transfers and stopping transfers. Only the level varies depending on the capacity of politicians to demand and officials to pay. When an official pays money to get a post, his or her effort is focused only on collecting several times more of that from the public,” said Devasahayam.
Everyone seems to be benefitting from corruption in Tamil Nadu, said a retired Director General of Police. “Since those sitting at the top take money, people below also have a field day,” he said”.
But, an unassailable proof for the connection and connivance of the high command of the ruling party in all cases of corruption and irregularities of the ADMK regime came in the action taken by Jayalalitha against a party functionary for over 25 years who exposed the loot of money in the sale of sand to the extent of Rs. 1,440 crore that should have accrued to the coffers of the government.
A day after truck owners declared a strike alleging irregularities in pricing of river sand, the President of the truckers’ federation, who is also an ADMK panchayat chief, has been expelled from the primary membership of the party, seemingly for taking on the sand mafia.
ADMK chief Jayalalitha exhorted party cadre not to have any association with Sella Rasamani, 52, president of Oruvanthur panchayat in Namakkal who was spearheading the truckers’ strike as president of Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Federation (TNSLOF). In a statement on March 9, Jayalalitha said Rasamani went against party ‘principles’ and brought disrepute to the organisation. (Corruption seems to be principle of her outfit)
Soon after his expulsion, Rasamani chaired an urgent general body meeting of TNSLOF in Namakkal and decided to intensify the strike. The truck owners have backed him and announced a protest in Erode against the irregularities in sand pricing. Rasamani said he would not be cowed down by the expulsion and would expose the irregularities of the sand mafia.
“I cannot digest irregularities even if they happen in ADMK rule. I will expose the irregularities in sand trade,“ he told reporters adding that he would move the High Court. He claimed he attempted to raise the issues with Jayalalitha, but was denied access to her.
There was another report in the ToI on March 11 stating, “Powerful contractors have cornered all the sand quarries along the Cauvery river, leading to a several-fold hike in the price of sand.
While the government has fixed the price of two units (200 cubic feet) of sand at Rs.800, the contractors sell the sand at Rs.4,000, and in turn, it is sold in the market at Rs 10,000 to Rs.15,000.This has led to a hike in construction costs and housing prices and people are bearing the brunt. Sources say the entire quarrying sector in the state is controlled by three contractors with the backing of powerful politicians.
The nexus between sand mafia, bureaucrats and ruling party politicians has resulted in not just the plunder of river beds, but also losses to the exchequer. If the estimates of the truckers are anything to go by, the government suffers a loss of Rs.1,440 crore every year from mining in Trichy , Karur and Namakkal districts. Truckers are not allowed to purchase sand directly from PWD-owned mines. They have to buy sand at exorbitant rates from the stockyards set up by these mining and loading contractors.
The number of loads mined and sold is also not properly accounted for. “Every day, more than 10,000 trucks transport sand from the quarries in Trichy region. But only 2,000 trucks are properly accounted for,’’ says Sella Rasamani, president of Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners’ Federation, who called for a strike by truckers two days ago to expose the sand mafia. While a load of sand is two units, mining contractors force truckers to load up to four units.
“Two units of sand cost Rs.800 plus Rs.200 loading charges. But contractors charge up to Rs 4,500. We are unable to purchase sand directly from quarries as the contractors, backed by ruling party functionaries, rule the roost,’’ he alleged.
The middlemen who obtain licence for setting up stockyards near riverbeds transport sand from the quarrying point to stockyards. Outside trucks are not allowed to take sand from quarries. “The middlemen pay demand drafts of government fixed price to the public works department (PWD). They collect from us a DD for the government-fixed rate and take the balance as cash,’’ said V Selvaraj, a truck owner.
Tamil Nadu government has demarcated four divisions --Chennai, Pollachi (Coimbatore), Madurai and Trichy --for sand quarrying from rivers. Of them, Trichy is considered the biggest source and it covers a total of nine districts along the Cauvery belt.
“The miners have gone on a rampage. In-stream mining has lowered the river bed which may lead to river bank erosion,“ said R Dhanalakshmi, an environmentalist from Tamil Nadu Environmental Council.
That this ruling party functionary Sella Rasamani was not rewarded by Jayalalitha for exposing the scandal which cost the government treasury, but was punished by expulsion from her party clearly showed and proved the connection and connivance at top level in all the corrupt deeds of the ADMK regime! (15-03-15)