Rising
Kashmir: Srinagar: Saturday, 17 January 2015.
At a time
when Jammu and Kashmir government is facing severe finical crunch, officers in
Forest department have wasted funds worth crores of rupees either on
unproductive or non-existential works.
RTI details
have revealed that during the financial year 2013-14 only one division of the
Department (Urban Forestry Division Srinagar) spent more than Rs 3.75 crore from
non-plan, district plan, state plan, 13th finance, CAMPA and other allotments.
The RTI No:
3148-49/UF/L dated 25-06-2014 reveals that DFO Urban Forest Division Srinagar
Mukhtar Hakim spent a whopping Rs 22.40 lakh on just maintenance of buildings.
Out of Rs 22.40 lakh, the DFO shows he spent Rs 12.66 lakh on maintenance of
building in March 2014 while Rs 6.33 lakhs were spent on the same head in
February 2014. However, the RTI doesn’t reveal on which building the money was
spent and what type of maintenance was carried out.
Not only
this, the RTI details show expenditure of Rs 6.20 on unknown trainings in March
2014. Similarly, in the telephone expenditure, the Division shows that it spent
Rs 1.60 lakh in March 2014.
Similarly,
the RTI details reveal that construction work worth crores was carried out by
the Division without inviting tenders. In addition to money, hundreds of cft of
prized Deodar, Kail and Fir timber has been issued to various ranges of the
Division to carry out the works.
While 2064.21
cft of timber was allotted for the works in 2013-14 in the Division, according
to RTI reply, all the timber got utilized. “Out of this hundreds of cft of
timber was swindled and sold in the market,” an official of the Division
wishing anonymity told KNS.
Sources told
KNS that bungling has not only been done in money, but the timber has also been
swindled. “How can you justify expenditure of Rs 22.40 lakhs on maintenance of
building in just one year and major portion of which has been spent in the last
two months of the financial year? You can’t spent this whopping amount on
maintenance of building,” they said.
Claiming that
most of the funds in the Division have been swindled over the years, sources
said, “What is the logic of posting an ineligible official as DFO of a premier
division? Mukhtar Hakim is just a Range Officer but enjoyed plum posting due to
the patronage of outgoing PCCF Abhay Kumar and CCF Kashmir Nisar Darzi,” they
claimed.
“Not only
Mukhtar, one of his close relative is also posted in the same division as Range
Officer. Mukhtar carries most of his murky deals through him,” they alleged.
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