news details |
|
|
| RTI activist attacked for exposing scam | | Migrant relief swindled in Budgam | | Early Times Report
Budgam, July 13: Abdul Salam Kuchay, a resident of Branwar village in central Kashmir's Budgam district, had never imagined that he would be beaten to pulp and thrown into a river that too at an age of 62 years.
Kuchay, after retiring from government service, decided to work for public good and started using Right to Information Act (RTI) to expose wrongdoings of the government. He exposed some influential families in his area who have been beneficiaries of the migrant relief right from the '90s. These families had never migrated from the village.
"I had sought information about the Kashmiri migrants who are receiving monthly grant from government, and when the information came to me I found some influential families of the Chowdhary dynasty in the list of beneficiaries. This made these people mad and on last Saturday they pounced upon me when I was returning from the fields. They thrashed me and threw me into a river (Doodhganga nallah)" Kuchay told Early Times.
The beneficiaries of migrant relief include Ghulam Mohammad Jahara alias Chowdhry who happens to be sarpanch of Jabbad Branwar area.
"How can a man become sarpanch of his area when he lives in migrant camp in Jammu? This is a big scam, and we appeal Revenue Minister, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir and Relief Commissioner (Migrants) Jammu to recover all the money which these influential people received over the years as migrant relief. These people own huge bungalows in their villages but have listed themselves as migrants," said another local of Branwar village Mohammad Abdullah.
Chowdhry, the sarpanch in question, is affiliated with National Conference for a long time and his brother Saifuddin Chowdhry (Numberdar) is affiliated with ruling PDP.
Meanwhile, the people who thrashed the RTI activist have not been arrested by the police station so far. The matter has been brought into the notice of local MLA and Agriculture Minister G N Lone Hanjura and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar as well, the locals said.
"When NC was in power the two brothers swindled all the funds which came for development of the village and that has been earlier exposed through an RTI. Just before elections when the PDP wave sweeping across the Valley, one of their brothers namely Saifuddin who thrashed me and happens to be a history sheeter with police changed his loyalty and joined PDP," the locals said.
"Earlier Ghulam Mohammad Chowdhry had made lives of people miserable as he had NC's patronage and now his brother Saifuddin is doing same thing with PDP's patronage," said Ghulam Nabi, a local resident. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
