Abrar Matoo
SRINAGAR, Oct 11: Following a detailed investigation carried out by Kashmir Despatch into monumental corruption allegations at Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Srinagar, the corporation has finally placed 33 employees under suspension and initiated an inquiry against 52 people.
A senior officer in SMC told Kashmir Despatch that the Corporation is planning on the forcible retirement of four repeat offenders as well. According to Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Athar Amir Khan, the complaints that the department has received from various citizens have been forwarded to concerned agencies to validate the veracity of the allegations.
Reliable sources revealed to Kashmir Despatch that Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Srinagar has launched an investigation into the corruption scam at SMC, where the Deputy Mayor, Parwaiz Qadri is at the center of the muddle.
Though the investigative agency has not furnished its final report which would have highlighted the role of Deputy Mayor and numerous elected councilors with whom in the league he has allegedly perpetrated a corruption scandal of Rs. 1.4 Crore, the SMC administration has started to move its finger nevertheless.
Earlier, while taking to Twitter, Mayor Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattoo wrote, “That Lakhs and Lakhs of money in bribes has been accepted into bank accounts by an elected representative of JKNC and the person is still out of jail–must be a new global precedent.”
Mattoo’s words were a dig at the incumbent Deputy Mayor of Srinagar, who despite serious allegations of corruption, continues to sit on the chair. It is pertinent to mention here, Mayor Srinagar has been extremely vocal about the alleged corruption at SMC in the past few past days and has time and again, said that efforts are being made to sanitize the Corporation from the life-sucking moth of corruption.
While quoting the detailed investigation carried out by Kashmir Despatch, Mayor Mattoo wrote, “Justice will not only be done but very strongly, convincingly and visibly seen to be done.”
These words were used to assure that the involved people would be brought to justice and held accountable for their actions. Surprisingly, Mayor Mattoo has finally expressed his helplessness and made it known, once and for all, that the institution that he was supposed to run, is out of his bounds.
It is pertinent to mention here, according to sources, one of the persons namely Abid Ahmad Dar, who had earlier brought the charges of corruption against Deputy Mayor Parvaiz Qadri, has withdrawn his complaint from Police Station Shaheed Gunj. It could not be ascertained whether the complainant withdrew under coercion or whether the complaint in the first place was bogus.
It remains to be seen what more would unfold at SMC Srinagar, and whether justice would take its right course. Till then, SMC would continue to remain a mess and the common man would pay its cost.
