Astonishing! For district administration, BMO is more authoritative than SDM; Awards for sale through “Jugaad” practice

Astonishing! For district administration, BMO is more authoritative than SDM; Awards for sale through “Jugaad” practice

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: In the last two decades, some of the Deputy Commissioners and SSPs who got an opportunity to serve in the Poonch district remained unsuccessful to leave an indelible mark on the minds of the people purely on the basis of merit.

The majority of them were seen as eclipsed by traditional sycophants, who are popularly known as the “Guldasta Gang,” and as a result, concrete development remained a distant dream. A few members of this gang, who were reportedly involved in wrong acts against society including drug peddling activities, were seen forming good relations with the police and civil administration by taking the shelter of some NGOs and trusts to protect their misdeeds; thereby, question marks were also raised on the intelligence network of the offices of Deputy Commissioners and SSPs. A few self-styled social workers cum employees were also given unknown importance by the police, including providing security. Deserving people who did a lot for society were never encouraged by the administration, but those who managed everything from the background and through telephone calls from the center of powers were seen getting various awards and rewards. None of the top officers in the administration, on the appreciation letter of subordinates, was seen giving a positive recommendation in favour of any person to a private body for the purpose of giving awards to people.  For the most important chairs in the administrative setups, all are equal, but, “POONCH TODAY” is in possession of an official letter, which was sent by one of the top officers in the administration, based on an appreciation letter of a BMO, to a private body, giving positive feedback for a person for the purpose of giving an award and its astonishing. This clearly raised an eyebrow, as various awards are for sale and only those who use “Jugaad” practice always get awards. The letter, which is available with “POONCH TODAY,” and the contents written in that letter show that top officers also believe in favouritism culture by ignoring the facts on the ground. Moreover, the SDM of an area is the supreme authority to investigate any issue in addition to giving feedback to the administration on unknown matters, but rather than investigating the facts on the ground through the SDM, the administration worked on the recommendation of a BMO who joined the block a few months ago and is not fully aware of the last few years testimonial of the person in question. Has the administration checked the testimonial of a person or the real intentions behind the appreciation letter of a BMO before giving positive feedback to a private body that is known for giving awards to the people?  Has the administration done this act under pressure from high-ups? What would happen in the future if the top officers in the administration started taking appreciation letters from the subordinate officers like Social Welfare Officer, Municipality officer, CMO, Executive Engineers, ACD, and likewise other subordinate officers from different departments for award purposes to favour their like-minded persons without any merit? This episode has surprised people’s minds to know that some people with this attitude of preferential treatment are holding important posts. A large number of people have done a tremendous job for society in different capacities, but their contributions were never taken into account by the administration. This seems to be the first incident of its type in which the administration acted on the BMO’s letter by surpassing the importance of the chair of SDM, and was seen giving positive feedback to a private body in favour of a person.  Those sitting in the administration need to work with open eyes and broader minds and not on the basis of preferential treatment, as it will further deteriorate the already low image of the administration in the eyes of the common man. Last year, the Poonch administration got the last position in the good governance index of the UT administration, and going by the ongoing state of affairs, it is evident that the district is all set to repeat its last year’s performance of achieving the top rank from below in the good governance index. The district is suffering from many problems, including illegal constructions at several places, including flood zones, illegal encroachments on State/Forest/kahcharai and government lands, drugs, a water crisis, attempts at a revival of terrorism, and many more, but rather than focusing on addressing those issues, unfortunately, the administration seems to be adopting the nepotism culture to please some people out of the way, and this is a most unfortunate act. This act on the part of the administration has stunned the morale of those who have done a lot for society in different capacities.