CM8217;s house gets facelift while Jamp;K faces resource crunch

JAMMU, MAY 7: Empty coffers, it appears, do not daunt the Jammu and Kashmir Jamp;K Government. Despite the worst financial crunch faci...

JAMMU, MAY 7: Empty coffers, it appears, do not daunt the Jammu and Kashmir Jamp;K Government. Despite the worst financial crunch facing the militancy infested State, a generous amount of nearly Rs 90 lakh was recently doled out by the government for the 8220;special renovation and interior decoration8221; of the official residence of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

The State has also spent Rs 74.85 lakh on the renovation of Guest House No 2 at Jammu and Rs 24.94 lakh on the Fairview Guest House at Srinagar till early this year. Interestingly, no tenders were invited for any of these works.

Officials concerned contend that the tenders were not required as the work on Chief Minister8217;s residence was executed through the Estates Department, with Managing Director of the Jamp;K Housing Board as the Project Coordinator. Similarly, the work in respect to the Guest House No 2 was executed through the Jamp;K Housing Board and on the Fairview Guest House, through the Chief Engineer of Public Works Department PWD, Kashmir.

Significantly, all the works were undertaken when the Chief Minister was crying himself hoarse about the indebtedness of State and his government8217;s inability to pay the arrears of the Fifth Pay Commission to the employees and pensioners. Surprisingly, the renovation continued even when work on various development projects had slowed down due to paucity of funds and a sizeable section of employees and pensioners had not received their dues for the last several months.

Sources said the State had already landed in a debt trap when the government had started renovation and interior decoration of the Chief Minister8217;s residence and two Government guest houses. Substantiating, they pointed out that indebtedness of the State accounted for over Rs 7,798.68 crore including Central loans Rs 3,231.09 crore, Provident Fund and Insurance Rs 2,971.41 crore, market borrowing and other loans Rs 651.26 crore, besides the bank overdraft Rs 944.02 crore.

However, this did not include the State8217;s liability in respect of claims pending settlement for want of cash. The per capita Central loan had increased from Rs 3,104 in 1991 to Rs 4,186 in 1998, sources added.

While the government remains mum over the issue, the huge expenditures have raised eyebrows in the Administration with officials questioning the government8217;s double-standards.

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Even as a large chunk of government employees and pensioners have been pushed to borrowing resources to meet their daily needs, the Government is out holidaying on account of annual Durbar Move from the State8217;s winter capital city of Jammu to the summer capital Srinagar, the officials point out. The Chief Minister himself is abroad and expected to return on May 15.

The Civil Secretariat and other Durbar Move offices, which closed at Jammu on April 30, will reopen in Srinagar on May 10. Under the given situation, no one is sure if the monthly salary or pension will be released in the coming week.

Sources attribute the delay in release of salary and pension to the non-transfer of money by the government from its treasury in the Civil Secretariat to the Sadar treasuries at Jammu and Srinagar. This money transfer MT is done by the government at the end of every month, but this time it moved to Srinagar from Jammu without undertaking the exercise.

According to some of the employees, the government appears to have avoided MT due to paucity of funds. Otherwise, the Government can transfer money even during its transit to Srinagar, they added.