Thoughts.. lies... and some honest rib

BJP government in the state now seems to be showing it’s true colors. It raised hue and cry over the corruption issue during state and central elections. Subhash Ahluwalia, Principle Secretary to the former Congress chief minister was arrested and subsequently suspended has been reinstated after his mentor became a central minister. The police during investigation found property worth 2.30 crore from him. No one in today’s government dares to ask from where did a civil servant amassed such huge amount of property.

In a shocking report, the BJP government is going to reinstate former drug licensing authority Sher Singh Thakur. He was caught with his pants down while on money collecting spree in Baddi. An amount of 4,88,500/ was recovered from him while he was “inspecting” the pharma units. Later property worth crores and 20 bank accounts were detected. This is how the state health minister has mentioned the whole issue.

Brushing aside any negative publicity this step would evoke, he said it was not the first case as officials in several departments had been reinstated until the court proved them guilty.

He added that even in the health department, various officers, including the then drug inspectors Kapil Dhiman and Nishan Sarin, were reinstated after being suspended briefly after being caught in corruption cases.

The background of this whole issue is very interesting. A minister in the state who represents the same district where these pharma units are located was pissed off with Sheru as he was demanding money from one of the units where this minister also had business interests. Sheru was unaware about the minister’s connection and went on terrorizing this unit. Finally a lesson was taught by getting him arrested red-handed.

So lesson taught, and finally this man will be back in office after making a ‘deal’. What if he was caught red handed? This man is still to be proved guilty in the court of law. BJP government has finally legalized corruption in the state. One can now openly indulge in corruption and still serve the same very government. Next step the government must ensure is to display a bribe chart in every office for getting the work done.

This is the real Ram Rajya, BJP been shouting all along. Was some one singing Bhey, bhukh aur bhrashtachar during elections!!!

Himachal Pradesh is back in news, and trust me there is no reason to cheer. In the first incident 4 teachers have been booked for out sourcing their jobs in the remote Shilai area of Sirmaur. These teachers had hired other people to do their job while they were living and doing business else where. One of the teacher was running a shop in his village and the other teacher was running a coaching center at Paonta Sahib.

There seems to be no check and fear of the govt any where. Govt. job is now an open license for corruption. Outsourcing one’s job is a novel idea and I believe Himachal is the first state in the country where one can outsource his own job!! This is because the politicians are there to save the corrupt. Politicians everywhere have one point agenda, promote the corrupt and kill honesty. This way when the entire system becomes a tool  in their hands these kings can rule the masses. No prizes for guessing why the state run schools are not able to produce good results in annual exams.

In the second incident, Himachal Pradesh PMT results this year again is in the news. Parents of unsuccessful candidates had alleged paper leak. 22 toppers in the PMT results are from a same coaching institute in Shimla which have raised suspicion. In the past, in 2006, Himachal High Court had ordered re-test and all 65 toppers in the first exam had scored poorly in the re-test. This had proved that there was a paper leak. The case is still in the court and no one has been punished as of now.

Himachal Pradesh University is a den of corruption. As such very little academic activities take place here. Students, teachers and staffers here are tools in the hands of the politicians. (again the bloody politicians!) Entire year student groups keep on fighting on petty issues making sure there is no credible academic atmosphere in the campus. In such background it is no big deal that papers have been sold. Last refuge of the Munna bhais of the world has become Himachal University.

Overall these incidents speaks of the level of governance in the state. This is just a tip of the iceberg. It is very easy for the politicians to promise moon during the elections but when it comes to delivering, the performance is zero. Government machinery is the biggest white elephant of this state. They all are here because of some push and pull and not of any competence. Anything the govt touches turns into $hit.

Two recent incidents have exposed the state of policing in Himachal Pradesh. When the entire country is reeling from the affects of the Mumbai terror attacks and the police is supposed to be on high alert, policemen in Himachal Pradesh still do not understand the seriousness of the situation.

In the first incident, 6 Nepalis were caught at Chandigarh, Sector-17 bus station carrying 12 gelatin sticks, 6 detonators, 2 Nobel D-Gel sticks and seven meter of fuse wire in the early morning hours on December 9. These people had traveled from Rohru in Shimla district and were headed to Uttrakhand. They traveled virtually unchecked a distance of 220 km in HRTC buses inside Himachal Pradesh. Nowhere there was any form of checking Had it not been for CRPF personals manning the sector-17 bus station these people would have left for their destination. Policing in Himachal Pradesh is the most cushy job. Unless there is a VIP duty with a minister coming in late, police stations are closed by 6 pm. In the recent past, Shimla had have a spate of day light burglaries. Numerous cars have been stolen from Shimla roads since there is no patrolling by the police after dark. Places like Main bus station, Sanjouli, Totu, Baleuganj are ruled by goonda elements in the night and there is hardly any security worth it’s name for the common man. Police gets into action mode only after any incident occurs. Till now Shimla has been free of any major criminal and terrorist activity but for how long? With such a lax security set up, criminals and terrorists can strike any time.

In the second incident, which has been kept away from major newspapers, a person was arrested by the Punjab Police from the Kotkhai area of Shimla district who had made this village a base for printing fake currency. A printer and computer was confiscated by the Punjab Police in it’s raid as has been reported in some Hindi dailies. This person was staying here as a surveyor of a electricity company for three months. Himachal Police was not aware of the raid done by Punjab Police. Now the police here has been dismissing the whole operation by Punjab Police as a hog wash. Kotkhai happens to be the constituency of a high profile minister in the present government and the police is probably hushing up the entire case. It has been reported that the accused here used to leave his keys with the owner of the house while going out and have meals at the owner’s house. How could the accused choose such far off place for his operation without the involvement of any local person cannot be dismissed.

Liquor mafia still rules the state. Only the names have changed after the present government took over. The activities are the same. Drug mafia is operating rampantly in the entire state. If an ordinary citizen can see all these things why can’t the police?? These are dangerous signals and a warning of the times to come. Unless the police starts some serious policing Himachal is not going to be safe. The police has to come out of the chor-sipahi mode of policing.