Blunders in agriculture department Poonch: Will the government initiate an inquiry into HADP, CSS, and UT Capex to book tainted officers? Part 2

Blunders in agriculture department Poonch: Will the government initiate an inquiry into HADP, CSS, and UT Capex to book tainted officers? Part 2

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: The high headedness of the Chief Agriculture Officer also remained in the news during the Sh Budha Amarnath yatra, as he deliberately did not allow his junior staff members to attend the yatra duties. A narrative was seen building in the Poonch city about the self-importance attitude of the C.A.O. who failed to follow the direction of the former DC Poonch. Was he more powerful than the DC? Asked a senior employee of the department who wanted to be deputed for the yatra.

Moreover, for poor performance in the CSS, UT Capex, and HADP projects, the said officer was taken to task in various official meetings by the government. The entire staff was not happy with the C.A.O. because of his highhandedness. His poor performance in the HADP project, UT Capex, and CSS and harassing his subordinate employees have become the talk of the town. On the one hand, he never allowed his staff members to attend the Sh Budha amarnath yatra duties and sought their explanation related to attending the yatra, but on the other side, he allowed his blue-eyed staff member to go outside the district for weeks. Highly placed sources in the administration said that the majority of employees of the department are happy after the publication of the story in the last edition of “POONCH TODAY,” as they tolerated the irresponsible behavior of the C.A.O. and his blue-eyed team members who were calling shots by keeping the government in the dark for years. It is important to mention here that the government wanted to boost and strengthen the agriculture economy through twenty-nine projects of HADP with a five-year outlay of Rs 5013 crore over the next five years, but the ground conditions speak different languages. Every single work and its technicalities under various schemes, including HADP, that are shown on the paper need to be investigated properly on the ground because the majority of the works are not existing on the ground, said sources in the administration. In his official WhatsApp group, the C.A.O. also admitted that a large number of cases (80%) coming from some areas of Mendhar are fake. It’s a clear signal that department officials posted in several areas of Poonch district remained involved in massive fraud over the years. A farmer, Mohd Din (name changed), son of Mohd Akram (name changed), R/o Galutha, Mendhar, applied twice for getting machinery with different mobile numbers. Such frauds have been detected online, but it raises a big question mark over the department’s credibility that over the years, maximum frauds were executed by the department officials under various schemes, but those never came into the public domain because the system in the department was not in an online mode. Tractors given to the farmers are being used for sand mining and sand gravel activities and not for agricultural purposes because the main aim of the farmer is to get subsidies with the help of some tainted department officials. Reports of some fraud cases related to tractor purchases are also coming as the department officials dodged the government by clicking the photos of farmers with tractors with the help of tractor agency owners and then used to swallow the maximum amount. The tainted officials also get handsome commission per tractor from companies, and even farmers are forced to give commission out of their subsidy to the department officials to complete all the formalities. The blue-eyed officials who remained favorites of their bosses over the years remained masterminds of every foul play because they played their moves tactfully and always got the attention of the C.A.O. Moreover, there is a high sycophancy culture in the department where department officials are seen doing sycophancy of the C.A.O., whose main target is to harass subordinate officials who fail to obey his orders. His maximum tenure remained full of controversy. On the one hand, maximum foul plays were executed during his tenure as some of his blue-eyed subordinates with the backing of C.A.O. scripted big shots by hoodwinking the government at the top level, and on the other hand, he used to harass department officials, including some female staff members at will, because he wanted expenditure on the paper even without executing the works on the ground. In the majority of works that were executed on the ground, rules were violated openly because the main motto of the tainted officials was to hit the financial gains. Only the C.A.O. and some of his blue-eyed subordinate officials, who are masterminds of everything, have been calling the shots in the department, while others are forced to face harassment only. It’s the duty of the beneficiaries to purchase themselves all items, but the department officials purchase items themselves from GEM suppliers in lieu of getting commission, and innocent beneficiaries are forced to accept the dictates of the officers. The Chief Secretary J&K, who is looking after the HADP project, and Principal Secretary Agriculture Shailender Kumar need to conduct an in-depth inquiry into the various foul plays scheme-wise, especially under the UT capex, CSS, and HADP project in all the tehsils of the Poonch district, which were scripted by the tainted department officials, so that the wrongdoers, who are eyeing further lucrative postings, be brought to justice for spoiling the department’s credibility with their foul intentions. Will the Chief Secretary and Secretary Agriculture, who are known in bureaucratic circles for their professional competence and integrity, act by ordering a high-level inquiry through a third party (anti-graft agencies) against the tainted officials of the agriculture department Poonch on account of poor performance in maximum sectors, especially under the HADP and other susceptible matters? Every blunder that was committed in the agriculture department over the years in Poonch district needs to be brought into the public domain, and the onus lies on the government to uncover all the illegal acts of officers who played havoc with their arrogance and questionable practices, which remained active for years without any notice or action from the government.