Abrar Mattoo
SRINAGAR, Oct 10: Anti-Corruption Bureau Srinagar (ACB) has launched an investigation into the allegations of corruption at Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Srinagar, where the Deputy Mayor of Srinagar, Parwaiz Qadri is reportedly the main suspect for illegal transactions.
Though the investigative agency is yet to reach to some conclusion and furnish its final report which would have indicted the Deputy Mayor and various elected councilors; the SMC Mayor has already expressed his helplessness taking to the micro blogging site twitter.
In his tweet, 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 coming through the Mayor himself continues to cling to his official chair.
It is pertinent to mention here that the 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.
Earlier, while quoting the detailed investigation 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 to the public, once and for all, that the institution that he was supposed to run, is out of his bounds.
Speaking to Kashmir Despatch, Deputy Mayor of Srinagar, a person who has remained at the centre-stage of this whole fiasco, said: “I am an elected councilor and deputy mayor. They cannot bring me down unless I am indicted by a government agency.”
The Deputy Mayor further said that he was silent till now because he did not want to “hamper the work of investigative agencies.”
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namely Abid Ahmad Dar, who had earlier brought the charges of corruption against Deputy Mayor Parvaiz Qadri, has withdrawn his complaint from Police Station Shaheed Gunj.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 his application under coercion or whether the complaint in the first place was bogus.
Speaking with Kashmir Despatch, a well placed source at SMC Srinagar said that though the corruption is deeply rooted in SMC’s molecules, “what is happening is a game of political rivalry.”
“The current Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattoo is not compatible with his Deputy Mayor, not because he is from a different political party, but because they have personal differences as well. This is the reason why he has come out against Parwaiz Qadri,” sources told Kashmir Despatch.
Sources added: “It is only a matter of time that we would see the other party coming out with allegations of corruption against the Mayor. The result would be more of a mess in the corporation. The SMC should not be allowed to function in the midst of this internal squabbling and should be dissolved effective immediately in the greater interest of the city and its public.”
