The Congress-led State Government has abetted corruption in the Government machinery and encouraged corrupt officials by promoting them instead of taking action against officials found guilty of corruption.
One such example of encouragement being provided to tainted officials has come to light in the State horticulture department wherein an official found guilty of corruption in the past has been promoted once again by the State Government, said Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravindra Jugran.
Addressing the media here on Tuesday, the BJP leader said that by promoting a tainted official found guilty of corruption in an official investigation conducted some years ago, the Congress-led Government has substantiated corruption allegations leveled at the State Government. Jugran said, "In 2003, during the term of the Congress State Government under Narayan Datt Tiwari as the Chief Minister, there was a case in which a person named VR Diwakaruni alias Benny took the Government cold storage facility at Almora on lease. In connivance with some officials in the administration, he had also been able to secure a loan of about Rs 1.5 crore in addition to which he had also collected about Rs 60 lakh from the farmers before he disappeared. Taking cognisance of the pressure exerted by the opposition and media reports, the then state horticulture minister had recommended a probe into the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The then chief minister Narayan Datt Tiwari had also approved the recommendation for CBI probe but senior officials in the administration altered the direction in favour of investigation by the Crime Branch of Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) instead of CBI. In the investigation conducted by the CID in 2003, the then deputy director of the horticulture department, RC Shrivastav was found guilty of corruption with the investigating body also recommending that the official be booked under section I of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Instead of taking legal action against the corrupt official as recommended by the agency concerned, the state government had promoted him from the post of deputy director to joint director of horticulture. Recently on September 2, this tainted official was promoted once again, this time from the post of horticulture joint director to the post of additional director by the Congress-led state government," said Jugran.
He further pointed out that considering the environmental wealth of Uttarakhand, horticulture is an important aspect which has the potential to generate considerable employment, self-employment and income generation. This in turn can be of vital importance in the mitigation or reversal of the migration of people from the mountainous region to the plains. By perpetuating blatant corruption in horticulture as seen in the case of Shrivastav, the Congress-led state government has acted in a manner detrimental to the welfare of the state and its people.