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| Official apathy drowns Wullar conservation project | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Jan 21: While outgoing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has several failures to his credit during his six year tenure, the failure of Wullar Conservation project is one of the glaring examples. It was on 7 December 2011 that amid much fanfare Omar inaugurated the prestigious Wullar Conservation and Management project and announced that his government would leave no stone unturned to conserve Asia's largest fresh water body Wullar.
However, more than three years down the line, only a handful of forest officers have been benefited out of the project. The prestigious Wullar Lake Conservation project is on the brink of closure due to inefficiency of officers posted there. They have allegedly looted funds worth crores meant for the conservation of the Lake.
Sources said out of the Rs 60 crore released by the Center under the 13th Finance Commission most of the funds have gone down the drain. Rashid Naqash, a junior level officer from Wild Life department was given a prized posting in the project. "Naqash with the help of project chief Abdul Razak Khan managed his posting as coordinator Wullar Project despite being junior and having no experience of such works. Both the officers have made fortune in the past few years," sources claimed. "Naqash was posted as coordinator Water Management part of the project which before him was occupied by a senior IFS officer of conservator rank. An adhoc employee who is close confidant of Khan and Naqash was given the charge of accounts who made payments worth crores in violation of norms," sources added. A senior officer in the Forest Department said Naqash was given drawing and disbursing powers by Razak Khan despite the fact that the same used to lie with the Executive Engineer posted in the project a few years back. "Why is Khan so kind to Naqash?" he asked. "Similarly, in Catchment Area Treatment, junior and inefficient officers in the past two years have looted money with both the hands. Mohammad Maqbool Rather, who was junior most officer was posted in the project in June 2013 as project Coordinator CAT and he with the help of Razak Khan managed to swindle lot of money which was meant for the project," he said.
In 2011, the Centre had cleared the Wular Conservation Project under the 13th FC at Rs 120 crore. Under the plan, the state was to get Rs 30 crore each year from 2011 to 2015 to complete the ambitious project.
However, the casual approach of Razak Khan who is posted in the project since its inception has been the biggest hurdle in executing the works in transparent manner. "While Rs 32 crore have been spent so far and liabilities worth cores have been created but on ground most of the works don't exist. The works have been carried out on papers only and payments drawn on fake works," the officer alleged. The State Vigilance Organisation had registered several cases against the corrupt officials on LAWDA in the last one decade. "Now it is to be seen whether the government is serious in restoration of Wullar lake or it will also go the way Dal went," the officer said. |
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