Scams worry ‘Mr Clean’ Nitish

Patna: The Election Commission’s decision to allot the reserved “arrow’’ election symbol to the JD(U) faction led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has come as a boost for the party chief at a time when he is facing political heat in the state over a series of alleged scams.

Mr Kumar, whose political USP has been his clean image and zero tolerance policy on corruption, is facing stiff criticism from the Opposition parties over cases of four alleged financial wrongdoings by NGOs and officials this year.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his younger son Tejashwi Yadav have been alleging that Mr Kumar is trying to cover up scams by deputing officials of his choice to probe the scams exposed by the Opposition.

“Nitish Kumar can get an idea of scam at any point of time (sic),” the RJD chief said in a tweet recently. He took a dig at Nitish Kumar after government officials and functionaries of NGOs were booked for their involvement in scams and questioned his claims about giving clean governance to the people of the state.

Peeved over the allegations levelled against him and his government, Mr Kumar recently said, “Strict action will be taken against all those who have been involved in embezzling public money. Zero tolerance for corruption has been the policy of our government.”

Sources claimed that the state government is now planning to strengthen the monitoring mechanism against NGOs to ensure that there is no embezzlement of public funds.

Evidence has emerged to show that public money was siphoned off d by several government officials and NGOs in the recently surfaced scams. Reports suggest around four scams have surfaced within a span of one year.

One of the major scams which plunged the state government into crisis was the one associated with NGO Srijan Mahila Vikas Samiti which offered vocational training to women As per the claims of Opposition parties, the scam may cross Rs 1000 crores “if properly investigated”.

The case was handed over to the CBI by the state government after the main opposition RJD raised the issue. Over 19 cases were registered in connection with the scam in Bhagalpur, Saharsa and Banka districts on the basis of statements recorded from the officials. So far around 18 accused have been arrested.

However, three Srijan scam accused were granted bail by the special CBI court recently after investigating officer (IO) of the case failed to file a charge sheet against the arrested persons.

The CBI has so far filed three separate charge sheets against 19 persons which includes government and bank officials and Manorama Devi, the founder of Srijan Mahila Vikas Samiti who died in February last year.

The scam involved diversion of public funds to the accounts of Srijan Samiti for private use. Investigation showed district officials, bankers and NGO functionaries forged signatures of senior administrative officers to siphon off government funds.

The scam, according to Lalu Yadav took place between 2005 and 2013 when Nitish Kumar was the chief minister and Sushil Kumar Modi was the finance minister and deputy chief minister.

Another scam which created political turmoil in Bihar was the toilet scam. State government officials and NGO functionaries were charged with misappropriating funds to the tune of `15 crores meant for construction of public toilets.

The initial probe had shown that funds meant for construction of  public toilets in Patna were not transferred to accounts of beneficiaries during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15.  

Two government officials and six NGOs have been charged with misappropriating funds, officials said.

Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar had found irregularities in the withdrawal of funds during the review meeting of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).

Two other scams which rocked the state were Mahadalit Vikas Mission scam and SC/ST scholarship scam.  The scholarship scam which surfaced in 2016 revolved around financial assistance for SC/ST students pursuing education in technical fields outside the state.

Reports suggest that funds to the tune of around Rs 10 crores were embezzled in the financial year 2013-14. The state vigilance department probing the scam had registered an FIR in November 2016 against senior IAS officer S.M. Raju and 13 others.

The alleged irregularities in the withdrawal of funds had come to light in 2016 when SC/ST students mostly from East Champaran district informed the state government that they had not received scholarships for the previous financial year.

Mr Raju, a 1991 batch IAS officer, was the principal secretary of the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe welfare department during the period, officials said.

The vigilance department is also probing Mr Raju’s involvement in another scam related to Mahadalit Vikas Mission. The IAS officer was  suspended after his name appeared in the case.

The vigilance investigation department which had received a complaint regarding embezzlement of Rs 4.25 crores in the training programme of Mahadalit Vikas Mission under the SC/ST department had registered FIR against 10 government and private firm officials.