Be it contracts for work of government departments and local
bodies or appointments of workers for Nutritious Meals and Anganwadi centres,
counselling for transfers of teachers or any work to get done through the
government and civic bodies – bribe and corruption is prevailing everywhere not
only affecting construction works and causing risks in the quality of
construction but also enormous difficulties and mental agony to various
sections of the society.
Corruption is rampant in the direct appointment in
government services in all categories from Junior Engineers to paltry paid
part-time workers such as Nutritious Meal workers and Anganwadi workers. A
Tamil daily published the copy of a letter sent to Jayalalitha by a former ADMK
trade union secretary alleging that bribe of Rs.10 lakh to Rs.15 lakh was taken
for every appointment of 600 junior engineers in Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
and also named the persons involved in the corruption. He also alleged that the
persons who took bribes used the name of party high command. But even after one
month of publication of this report no action was taken against anybody by
Jayalalitha, thus giving credence to the allegation. In the meanwhile, she also
announced recruitment of 4,000 assistants in TNEB giving room for another round
of bribe collection.
The next big hunt for corruption and bribery was the
recruitment of 16,793 workers for Nutritious Meal Programme and 11,803 for Integrated
Child Development scheme. The District Collectors were made the appointing
authorities. Even though only modest wages are paid for the posts for which recruitment
is made [A nutritious meal organizer gets Rs.4,840 per month], the ratio of the
number of applicants for the number of posts available is 10:1.
Right from the beginning, the recruitment process was full
of controversies. Complaints of irregularities were also reported. For
instance, in Karur, there had been widespread allegation that ruling party
influence and collection of money from aspirants for the posts have been doing
the rounds. Many applicants and aspirants, ‘The Hindu’ reported, claimed that
upto Rs.3 lakh had been paid to functionaries of the ruling party. The filling
of vacancies is riddled with ruling party interference right from the level of
panchayat union to district.
One of the district collectors refused to oblige the
recommendations of ruling party functionaries for which he was transferred and
kept in compulsory waiting list. Even a pro-ADMK daily reported on 23.7.2012.
“The ADMK men are involved in compulsory collection from the aspirants for the
posts of nutritious meal organizer and cook. Those who had already paid lakhs
of rupees are wondering whether they could get employment. As ruling partymen
threaten that they could get jobs only if they paid balance amounts, women are
suffering in agony. The demand, that district administration should fill up the
vacancies only from the eligible applicants, has raised.
“Right from the day the CM announced filling up of 28,000
vacancies, ADMK functionaries from ward, union to district levels plunged into a
source of collection of money. In their eagerness to get government jobs, many
pledged their houses, land and jewels and paid money to ADMK men trusting them.
Some ADMK functionaries who had already received money are forcing them to give
the balance. The district administration so far have not issued any caution not
to get cheated by giving money for these jobs.
Like nutritious meal jobs, collection of money goes on for
Anganwadi jobs also. Who is to fill the vacancies – officials or ruling
politicians is the question from people.” it is also said in the report that a
woman told their reporter that she sold her ‘thaali’ to pay money.
On 26.7.2012 ‘Dinamalar’ daily reported irregularities after
irregularities were taking place in the recruitment of nutritious meal workers
with the support of ruling partymen. But in spite of so many such reports there
is no response from the rulers, leaving the impression that Jayalalitha made
the announcement to facilitate ADMK cadre to enrich themselves by selling
government jobs.
If corruption and bribery are rampant like this even in the
recruitment process for part time jobs with meagre salary, the least said the
better of the crores of rupees worth contracts for works of PWD, and local
bodies, which are normally the main sources for money swindling for the ruling
party.
ADMK regimes in the past too had notorious tag of
‘commission regime’ and earned the reputation of a Russian firm filing a case
in the Madras High Court that it was denied sanction for setting up a
desalination plant in Chennai although their’s was the lowest tender bid, only
because they refused to give commission of 15 per cent to the ruling party high
command.
When the ADMK regime went on an advertisement blitzkrieg on
the completion of one year of Jayalalitha’s rule, there were reports that the
expenditure on ads for the occasion was over Rs.100 crore and “those who are in
the know of affairs say there is 15 percent commission on ad charges, of which
2 per cent goes to the ad agency and the remaining 13 per cent to the place
where it should go.”
There was another report in the pro-Jayalalitha daily
‘Dinamalar’ which gave the break-up of commission on PWD contracts, from the
engineers and their offices to the ruling party power centre, the latter
getting bulk of it at 12 percent. ‘The Hindu’ in a report on the poor quality
of public works stated the amounts prescribed by the government for cement,
bricks, wages and sand which were far lower than the prices prevailing in the
market and added that the contractors said they had to pay commission of 11 per
cent too.
If contractors had to pay so much commission to the regime
for the works sanctioned to them, what will be the quality and longevity of the
works they complete and if government employees right from the levels of
engineers/ officials to that of part- time workers like nutritious noon meal
workers had to pay lakhs of rupees for getting employment, can there be a corruption-free
administration - are something not difficult to conclude.
Tamil Nadu witnessed unprecedented development during the
previous DMK rule with number of infrastructures like roads, bridges, flyovers
construction, construction of buildings in all districts including such
landmarks like the new Secretariat complex, Anna Centenary Library etc., So
also, revoking the ban on recruitment imposed by the earlier Jaya regime, tens
of thousands of government employees and teachers were appointed. Crores of
free colour TV sets, free LPG stoves with LPG connections etc., were
distributed to people. A mega housing scheme to replace huts in the state was
launched. In spite of so much works carried out by the DMK government, there
was not a single report in any daily, journal or TV channels on corruption and
bribery. Ever since she assumed office, Jayalalitha has ordered the police to
go all out to get false complaints on DMK functionaries, and former ministers,
foist false cases and arrest them. But she could not find from her readily
available government records any irregularity in constructions, procurements
(of TV sets, gas stoves etc) and in government appointments. Nor could her
police find out any case of corruption or bribery because under Kalaignar’s leadership
the affairs of the government were clean, transparent, responsible and
responsive.
But within one year of her rule, Jayalalitha regime has
sullied its image so worse that even the newspapers and periodicals which
wished to sustain her regime could not avoid publishing reports of blatant
corruption and bribery now, lest they have to risk their readership. However
there is nothing new in the affairs of the regime led by Jayalalitha, after all
she has just renewed the
‘reputation’ of her earlier regimes and reinvigorated it to match inflation and
increased cost. It is only for the media
which carried out a campaign in her favour and people who voted for her
expecting a ‘change’, who have to blame themselves!
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