Who are the swindlers, Mr Chauhan? | N.D.Sharma

Published on 26-11-2007 In National

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Who are the swindlers, Mr Chauhan?

When Shivraj Singh Chauhan says that those who have swindled crores of rupees have no moral right to level corruption charges against him, he only puts himself in a ridiculous position. It is four years that his Bharatiya Janata Party has been in power in Madhya Pradesh and he himself completes two years as chief minister this month. What has he, or his government, done to bring the swindlers of the public money to book?

Eradication of corruption was a major plank of the BJP's election campaign in 2003. Chauhan, however, never showed any inclination for working towards that goal. Rather, he moved in the reverse direction by amending the service rules for the All-India Service Officers with the objective of helping those caught ripping the public.

Most of his ministers are embroiled in various scams. A member of his cabinet and one of his close lieutenants, Rampal Singh, had swelled his personal assets from Rs 87,000 to Rs 4.92 crore within a span of two years. This came out in the two affidavits that Singh had filed before the Returning Officers; one at the time of contesting the Assembly election in November 2003 and the other when he contested the Lok Sabha by-election from Vidisha two years later. Singh was Minister of Public Health Engineering and was handpicked by Chauhan to contest from Vidisha when he vacated the seat after he had become chief minister and entered the Assembly in a by-election from Budhni constituency.

The bureaucrats always come up with novel ideas, which they can use to make money and help their political patrons also in the name of providing some facility to the people. Foreign aid is always available for such rackets. The financial assistance received from foreign countries is neither shown in the budget nor audited nor do the donor countries/agencies monitor if the aid provided by them has been used for the purpose for which it was given.

Upper Lake, for instance, is a major source of drinking water supply in Bhopal. Sewers from the city eject their contents in the Upper Lake and the Lower Lake. Bhojwetland Project, a scheme with a Japanese loan of Rs 247 crore, has been implemented with the specific aim of desilting and dredging, deepening and widening of the Upper and Lower Lakes, as well as preventing the sewerage from pouring into the two Lakes. As many as 27 sewers are still debouching into the Upper Lake and 28 sewers into the Lower Lake.

With its fascination for giving Sanskrit names to its projects, the State government launched "Project Uday" to ensure clean drinking water supply in four cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior. An IAS officer has been made in charge of the Project, and a sum of Rs 1,366 crore, obtained from the State, Central and foreign agencies, put at his disposal. The water supply, if anything, has only been deteriorating even in Bhopal.

That Chauhan had no experience of governance when he became the chief minister can be an excuse (a lame one, though) for not being able to run the affairs of the State efficiently. But it cannot be an excuse for abusing the system to help himself and his cronies, to the detriment of the public interest.

While he was content with delivering speeches, replete with quotations from the Puranas (Hindu mythology), he had, for all practical purposes, left the affairs of the government in the hands of trusted builders and contractors.

His wife was keeping the accounts. At one stage the "business" had "grown" so much that she was said to have acquired a sophisticated currency counting machine.

The lists of transfers and postings of senior bureaucrats were reportedly being prepared at the palatial residence of a builder and Chauhan went there to merely put in his signatures. The party sources say that the central leadership admonished Chauhan when the matter was brought to their notice. Then he started receiving the note-sheets of transfers and postings at the chief minister's residence.

Senior party leaders had been warning Chauhan that it was neither in the interest of the government nor of the party if "outsiders" were permitted to take decisions for the government.
As could be expected under the circumstances, the bureaucrats were posted at key positions not for their administrative acumen or commitment to the law and the Constitution, but for their willingness to do anything for the chief minister.

There were growing reports of chief minister's wife Sadhana Singh's constant interference in the administration. The newspapers had been frequently carrying the photographs of Sadhana Singh giving directions to bureaucrats at public functions. It was appalling to see even IAS officers demeaning themselves. (Sadhana Singh's photographs stopped appearing after Leader of the Opposition Jamuna Devi had submitted to the Lokayukta her petition levelling corruption charges against Chauhan and Sadhana Singh.) An IAS officer, designated Secretary to the chief minister, was assigned to exclusively attend to Sadhana Singh.

The BJP in Madhya Pradesh is no more talking of the "tainted" ministers at the Centre. They are, on the other hand, referring to Lalu Yadav and Shibu Soren as if they have become their role models. Lalu Yadav and Shibu Soren did not resign, so Chauhan also need not resign, they argue.

It is for Chauhan and his party to decide if he should or should not resign in view of the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police against him and his wife under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. One may only remind him of a precedent that he had himself set. An Indore citizen had gone to the court with a complaint that (then) Director-General of Police Swaraj Puri had fraudulently got his son admitted to a prestigious engineering college in the NRI quota. The court directed the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the State police to hold an inquiry into the allegation and submit the report to the court. A.R.Pawar was then heading the EOW. Apparently at a nod from chief minister Chauhan, Pawar promptly registered an FIR against Puri. In no time was Puri removed and Pawar appointed Director-General of Police in his place.
(Puri, who has since retired as Director-General of Home Guards, was considered close to Congress leaders, particularly Arjun Singh, while Pawar enjoys the confidence of the Sangh Parivar.)

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