Boston-based business man Charles Ponzi is today a household name, most so in the Indian State of Odisha. Ponzi was a super brain but evil in mind. He became notorious in 1920 when he enticed gullible, middleclass communities into investing in his fraud company which promised astronomical returns on investment. He gave away incredible returns to the first few investors, who became his brand ambassadors. The trick was plain and simple. Ponzy paid from the successive investors. The agents took huge commission to attract more people. The day the business limped, the empire came crashing down.
In India, no one could know the local species of Ponzis, who set their trap even more wickedly. They promised everything: cash profits, land, cars, jewellery and all the known riches against miniscule investment. The Ponzi guys would vanish one fine dark night with the remaining loot. Similar businesses thrive until investors dwindle in number and the schemer starts telling lies to disappear into thin air at the opportune moment. The Odisha Ponzi schemers never bothered to vanish because they brought every credible business activity under the fold believing every new scheme would bring in fresh fools. Big politicians, officials and routinely educated people with money could not brush the Ponzi schemes aside because high profile activities including manufacturing, media and high-end product trading convinced the worst cynic to believe that ‘this company is truly genuine’. The rest is history.
These Ponzi companies are wrongly called ‘chit funds’ which are much fairer, safer for engaging in honest group activity based on mutual trust and investment. The origin is traced to Ireland, where chit fund outfits came to the rescue of people at a time when institutional finance was beyond reach. Probably, because the words ‘cheat’ and’ ‘chit’ are erroneously homonymous in India, Ponzi outfits are named so. We cannot, however, ignore the fact that Odisha is the best known hotbed of Ponzi companies with the highest number of victims on record. It is also true that toughest investigations have been initiated to discover unbelievable revelations. The fact that the people were cheated would not ever mean that the State is to blame. But the fact that frauds and cheats can roam the streets without fear is never acceptable. Victims of cheating and fraud can alert the police formally through FIRs and nabbing the accused has to occur. The Odisha Ponzi schemers were so big in size and stature involving many so-called respectable business people, politicians and officials that a Crime Branch (CB) investigation was ordered quite in good time. The ADG, a no-nonsense top cop, virtually did everything to ensure that not a single heavyweight schemer was spared. The CB was being watched for integrity and efficiency. No one is sure if the CB ADG stopped short at any point to let biggies escape. The Ponzi guys are all horrible enemies of people. Thankfully, the Supreme Court has put the CBI on the job and mysterious conspiracies are unfolding fairly well.
There are several more hurting things happening due to bad governance in the State. The roads in most towns and cities are so dangerously worthless that the planners, designers and executing engineers and a few contractors should land in jail. As per natural, human and fundamental right, every citizen has to live in peace and safety. The State cannot commit any act that causes danger to life, property or dignity through any of its agencies engaged in development work. The lately popular ‘concrete roads’ coming up in most urban centres are causing severe damage in multifarious ways.
Very fortunately in Puri, aptly called the Face of Odisha by the then Development Commissioner-cum-Urban Development Secretary Injeti Srinivas, received huge monetary grants to have a high-quality facelift to become attractively fit to accommodate at least three million pilgrims and tourists during the Nabakalebar festival in 2015. The never-ending sewerage project, begun nearly a decade ago, does not seem to be complete ever in our lifetime. The festival-focused roads, drains and other public goods are being constructed and installed at a very high speed. But unfortunately, as always, the roads are terrible: black-top crushed and garbage concrete poured over as ply layers, thereby going dangerously high, pushing age-old household plinths so low as to take all flood and rainwater gushing in there. The unforgivably horrible roads have sharp edges and never cured once. Some god-damn coir dust is sprinkled over the uneven surface to cheat the public. All the roads have cracked and are being worn down even by pedestrian and bicycle use, let alone motor vehicles.
Very interestingly, a couple of law-knowing young boys along with an Australian of Indian origin moved the consumer court and had the work stalled. The Australian met the Urban Secretary, who took a strong note and hauled up Works Secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan and ordered him to do a spot survey and get things corrected. Pradhan came and the local PWD Executive Engineer Sutar convinced him everything was fine and fit by organising a set of innocent slum dwellers (not one was an affected bona fide dweller) admiring the concrete garbage. Meanwhile, court had sent notices to the PWD, the Municipality and the contractor who sought relief from the higher forum headed by a retired High Court judge who granted relief temporarily to the offenders but finally ruled against the authorities after being shown several High Court orders to punish severely all authorities who planned and built roads above the age-old height by dumping material without excavating spoilt surface and removing debris. Justice Biswal warned the authorities asking them to withdraw the appeal or else he would dismiss that on record. Rattled and frightened, the State lawyers withdrew the appeal petition. The case is back to the District Consumer Court. Earlier, Injeti Srinivas had instructed the officials to go only for blacktop roads for blacktop and never concrete which requires scientifically methodical construction, which the local overnight contractors cannot even understand. The secret behind the concrete menace: Blacktop road construction requires the contractors to have sophisticated machines which are expensive. The local contractors can never buy them. Quality concrete road-making is even more expensive because the Road Congress specifications are so precision-oriented and high-end equipment-dependent that the local contractors will faint on hearing the price of the machines, and on regaining consciousness, get away to poorer nations with more illiterate people to make their easy kill. The engineers do not make public how bidding occurs; who gets the job and why; and on what conditions of penalty in case quality standards failed or citizens suffered. Even no information on the budget or who monitors quality is never made public, which is mandatory.
Very shockingly, the local PWD Executive Engineer never took calls and the Works Secretary became permanently deaf. Once or twice if caught, he would fumblingly say, “I am driving”, as if a person of his rank is not entitled to have a driver. The court is bound to rule demolition of bad concrete roads and drains which have caused death and injury to numerous people already.
Puri was fast turning one of the worst towns of Odisha due to erring engineers, who have squandered precious public wealth to make money by keeping sinning politicians and cheating contract outfit owners happy. But God seems to have saved the situation in good time. The latest incumbent Puri District Magistrate is surveying the town with hawk eyes and coming heavily upon rogue officials and contractors to ensure that the temple city is fit and fine to make life comfortable for all during the-long awaited Nabakalebar festival. Hopefully, much shall be salvaged to turn Puri an acceptable destination of pilgrimage and tourism by 2015.
All this information about Ponzi companies and concrete road menace is only to provoke the masses everywhere to rise and seek to know what is being given to them by the State authorities, on what terms and who to punish severely in case of cheating or compromising on quality, all by virtue of their guaranteed rights.
The bottom-line to bear in mind is that bad governance prevails when the ‘rule of law’ fails. Punishing the guilty and rewarding the performer unfailingly is the most visible effect in societies where the RUlE OF lAW prevails.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha).