Excerpts from a ToI report:
DG (Prisons) HN Sathyanarayana Rao - "What she is saying is not a new discovery".
DIG (Prisons) Smt D Roopa - "He might say this is not a new discovery. But, it would be a lapse on my part when I see something and not report about it. I have said there are speculations about Rs 2 cr being paid to jail officials, including my boss. Of the 25 inmates tested for drug consumption, around 18 tested positive. This is concrete evidence."
That such things go on in our prisons is a celebrated fact. But, like Smt Roopa has stated, having first hand knowledge of it and remaining silent, or looking the other way, amounts to dereliction of duty. While we have heard of the odd fresh IAS/ IPS officials, in their youthful idealism, sticking their necks out and taking on the establishment (and paying the price for it, in the form of being given some obscure postings), very rarely have officials at a DIG level, taken brave to do so. And, for that, one would like to salute Smt Roopa.
Another similar instance was of Smt Rashmi V Mahesh, IAS, erstwhile Director General of Administrative Training Institute, Mysore, who exposed misappropriations out of the Rs 60 cr alloted to the institute, during the term of her predecessor, Smt Amita Prasad, IAS - check here.
There's to be an enquiry now. But, like senior lawyer, Mr Sanjay Hegde, stated on an NDTV programme last evening, unless it's a judicial enquiry, it'll get a quiet burial, quiet like it happened in the Amita Prasad case.
And, talking of obscure postings, Smt Rashmi Mahesh occupies the low-lie post of Special Commissioner (Advertising & Revenue), BBMP, where too her powers have been badly curtailed, going by another KAS whistle-blower official, K Mathai's statements - check here. Simultaneously, Smt Amita Prasad today sits comfortably in Delhi, far away from any prying journo's, enjoying the status of Additional Secretary to GoI, MoEF.
Further, while we regularly come across enough retired IAS/ IPS officials waxing eloquent about how "systems" need to change etc etc at 5-star seminars, workshops, etc, very few have had the courage to facilitate the change, while in power. Very clearly, none of the very many scams that the country has seen, can happen without the knowledge, or often open connivance, of the top level officials. If all of the 'seminarist' officials had acted like Smt Roopa or Smt Rashmi, the world would certainly have been a better place - not necessarily that they too have been collecting the 'crores' that Sri HN Sathyanarayana Rao is allegedly going to be retiring with.
Another interesting aspect one notices is the way the 'mafia' comes to the fore to back the scam perpetrators. In the case of Smt Rashmi, she was almost lynched. Actually, if you scratch the surface in any of the government agencies/ departments, the story won't be too different. And, thereby the need more and more for "less government; more governance".
Well, for whatever it's worth, I'm going to be nominating Smt Roopa for this year's NBF award in the 'government officials' category.
Muralidhar Rao
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The ToI report
The original ToI report - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/sasikala-pays-rs-2-crore-for-vip-treatment-karnataka-cm-siddaramaiah-orders-probe/articleshow/59575847.cms
nothing new for her
Happy ending for Mr Sathyanarayana Rao
Re: Happy Ending For Mr Sathyanarayana Rao
>>Moral of the story - don't rock the boat; just keep your bosses happy, and it'll
>>be a happy ending for all. The Roopa's and Rashmi's don't matter.
The people are to blame for this. That's the reason why the Roopa's and Rashmi's don't matter. The people don't rise up and come to the streets for the right reasons. Yes, they do come out to the streets to protest for some right reasons like - Niurbhaya or anti lynching demonstrations like "not in my name". But; there are a number of wrong reasons that people come out to protest and that too some of them are violent protests.
But for instances like Ravindra Gaikwad MP abusing his power and slapping an AI employee nobody flinched a muscle. The message he got was I as an MP can break laws & get away with anything and still remain an MP while the public sleeps. His slap was not just a slap on an AI employee..it was a slap on every one of the 1.2 billion Indians and everyone slept. He should have been fired from his position (which is what happens in the corporate world even for a CEO); thrown in jail (non bailable warrant considering that he is a national leader who should be setting gold standards in following the law and behaving well) and should be permanently disbarred from holding any political office.
Now, coming DIG Roopa and the Sasikala case; the message is...currupt politicians can get away with anything; honest law enforcement officers get the stick (danda as they call it in hindi)...and as usual public sleeps..the very same public that will come out in protests to blacken hindi boards, tamil boards to say hindi beda OR come out in protests against supreme court ruling for Jallikattu or Kambala or whatever.
How can a spineless country tolerate good for nothing corrupt politicians and NOT do anything? The ONLY thing that needs to be regulated, policed, banned etc. are polticians! Till the public at large realizes that Roopa's...Rashmi's etc. don't and will not matter and the country will keep going down the toilet.