The government’s claim about zero tolerance against corruption in J&K has lately become a hollow slogan only because hardly there is any department from where the cases of corruption are not being reported.
A few days back a revenue official from Udhampur district was caught accepting bribe and now the Incharge Police Post (PP), Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu and his driver have been arrested on similar charges.
Reportedly, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recently arrested a Patwari of the Sudh Mahadev area of Chenani tehsil after he was caught red-handed accepting the bribe of Rs 40,000 from a man for processing an application in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir. In a similar case, the Jammu and Kashmir Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has trapped and arrested Incharge Police Post GMC Jammu and his driver for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 13,000. Both these cases and others which have surfaced in J&K in the recent past have been pointing towards a wary situation prevailing in the UT as far as rampant corruption is concerned.
In the aforesaid case of Incharge Police Post GMC Jammu, a cart puller was the victim of the corruption as he was forced by the policemen duo to grease their palms for letting him run his business near the GMC building. There is no doubt in the fact that the antigraft agencies have been given teeth to cut the wings of the corrupt officials but the rise in number of successful trap cases in J&K have been telling about the sordid state of affairs as far as rampant corruption is concerned.
Looking at the grim situation with regard to prevailing corruption, it seems that what is being projected is not the reality as the society is still marred with the scourge of corruption as it was in the past, with the action taken by the government bringing only insignificant changes on ground. Contrary to the government’s zero tolerance stand against corruption, the reality in UT is totally different with this evil ruling the roost.
The huge number of bribery cases coming to fore and the involvement of officials across departments have simply divulged that what has been done so far to contain corruption is ineffective and a lot more has to be accomplished to end this shabby culture.
All said and done, without effective reforms, accountability, and political will, the anti-corruption narrative will continue to ring hollow as citizens will have to bear the brunt of unending exploitation like the case under successive dispensations in the past.
