“Yedi paisa nahi dena hai to jahan chahe shikayat kar do” (If you donot want to pay bribe, then complain wherever you want to). This was the threat given to a BJP Dalit law maker in Saharanpur where an official in Panchayati Raj department asked for palmgreasing to get a project cleared.
The aghast BJP MlA from Rampur Maniharan segment Dhirendra Nim lodged a written complaint with Panchayati Raj minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary saying that the official has been asking for money to carry out development work in his constituency.
The legislator said in his complaint that Assistant Engineer Alok Gaur posted in Saharanpur Zila Panchayat asked for bribe and when he confronted him, the official said that he was forced to take bribe as he had to pay commission to his seniors.
“Yeh paisa nehi dena hai to jahan chahe wahan shikayat kar dijiye. Mujhe upar tak paisa dena padta hai … main kahan se launga (If you do not want to pay bribe, complain wherever you wish … I need to pass on money to the top, from where I will get that), the legislator wrote in his complaint quoting the official.
Gaur was charged with asking for bribe of Rs 50,000 to carry out development in Dalit dominated areas in Saharanpur. There are complaints that many projects have been stalled in Saharanpur because officials are asking for bribe.
The letter of the BJP MlA (which The Pioneer has in its possession) has exposed the Yogi government for its claim of ‘imaandar sarkar’ (honest government).
“If the officer is telling me that cuts are shared with senior officials, it speaks volumes about the prevailing corruption. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should look into what is happening,” Nim told this reporter.
There are allegations that corruption is rampant in government working. A senior minister Om Prakash Rajbhar too had blamed Yogi for his failure to check corruption. Rajbhar, the chief BJP’s ally, Suheldeo Bahujan Samaj Party went on record saying that corruption in thanas and tehsil had gone up 10 times in BJP regime.
“The police used to to ask for a bribe of Rs 50 during Akhilesh Raj. Now they are asking for Rs 500 as bribe,” Rajbhar, a Backward leader had said.