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| Vested interests hamper appointment of ombudsman in JK | | |
Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Mar 22: Several top officials have been creating hurdles in appointment of ombudsman for effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Jammu and Kashmir.
In August last year, government initiated a process for appointment of ombudsman for each district of the state.
The ombudsman has to look into allegations of misappropriation in the centrally sponsored scheme and to ensure timely utilization of funds. "There are still some officials who do not want appointment of ombudsman," an official said.
Centre has reprimanded the J&K government several times for "poor" implementation of the MGNREGA in the state.
On the directions of Government of India, the state government had initiated the process for appointment of ombudsman for "effective" implementation of the scheme.
The screening committee constituted for appointment of ombudsman had recommended names of 11 candidates-one ombudsman for two districts in the state.
As per the committee's report, G R Ghani (IAS) has been recommended ombudsman for Srinagar and Budgam districts.
Basheer Ahmad Ganai has been recommended for Kupwara and Baramulla, Mohammad Muzaffar Hakim for Kulgam and Anantnag districts. For Ganderbal and Bandipora districts, the committee has recommended Abdul Samad Magray, and Altaf Hussain for Pulwama and Shopian districts.
For Jammu and Ladakh divisions, the committee has recommended Ajaz ul Hassan Banday ombudsman for Poonch and Rajouri, Sheikh Mohammad Ayub for Leh and Kargil, Prem Nath Koul for Kishtwar and Doda districts.
For Reasi and Udhampur district, Subash Sharma has been recommended ombudsman, Baljit Singh Kapoor for Jammu and Ramban, and S Tran Singh for Samba and Kathua districts.
An official of the Rural Development Department said that the mandate of ombudsman would be to ensure "effective" implementation of the MGNREGA in the state. "But still there are some who are creating hindrances," he said.
"There are allegations about misappropriation of funds and ombudsman will look into that. Government of India also directed JK government to ensure timely and proper utilization of funds. These people do not want that ombudsman should look into misappropriation of funds," the official said.
Sleuths of State Vigilance Organisation last year raided several offices of the RDD allegedly issuing a supply order without following the prescribed formalities.
"The raids were conducts after allegations of large-scale irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGA," an official of the SVO, said.
For the last two years, the Union Ministry of Rural Development Department has taken on the state government several times over poor implementation MGNREGA.
In one of the letters, the Union Ministry has mentioned that the numbers of works started in 2015-2016 in JK are still "incomplete". It also mentioned delay in payment of wages to labourers. |
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