Voters sent him packing so guess who got parting gift from Farooq

The order, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express, was issued on October 23 by Mohammad Ashraf, Director General of Tourism, who holds additional charge as director of the Royal Springs Golf Course in the city’s Cheshmashahi area.

The beneficiaries include a turf manager, three supervisors, a computer operator, 37 field assistants, 18 machine operators, a caddy master, a bar man, two waiters, a head mechanic,

a welder, two mechanics, two pump operators, a boiler operator, an electrician, two plumbers, two night-watchmen and two gatekeepers.

These 88 jobs add up to Rs 3.5 lakh a month and come over and above the Rs 34 crore the state had to shell out for the golf course. The order not only raises serious questions of propriety, it also reinforces the criticism that in his six years in power, Farooq’s golf course—largely for his personal use—came to symbolize his government’s disconnect with the state’s reality. Spread over 9.07 sq km, this 18-hole course was built after 10,000 poplar, willow and walnut trees were cut in a protected national park, home to several of Kashmir’s endangered species, including the hangul, musk deer, black bear, and 70 species of birds.

Farooq got Australian golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Jr to design it and when it was opened in 2000, another Australian expert, Roger Harle, got a two-year contract on a monthly salary of $6,000 with perks amounting to $2,000. Plus a nanny for his children on Government expense!

Farooq himself was not available for comment but when contacted by The Sunday Express, Mohammed Ashraf, who signed the order, confirmed that the decision was taken by the ‘‘Higher Empowerment Committee.’’ This was headed by Farooq and included the Chief Secretary, Tourism Secretary, Director General Vigilance and Principal Secretary to CM.

Asked why the order was issued after the Government had gone, he said: ‘‘The decision had been taken before the polls and the then Chief Minister (Farooq) had sought that the orders should be issued as soon as the poll process ends.’’ And that he had received a note from former principal secretary to CM, B R Singh, asking him to issue the orders.

Records show that these instructions came on October 21, four days after Farooq had resigned.