Srinagar, July 17: What could shake the political circles in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior cabinet minister from the state has purchased a villa in the famed The Palm Tree Villas in Dubai, one of the world’s largest man-made islands in the United Arab Emirates.
 Informed sources said the minister has recently purchased an 8-bed room villa in the Palm Tree Villas for a whopping Rs 120 crore.
 The minister has joined the elite club of celebrities like actor Shah Rukh Khan, footballer David Beckham and Ambani brothers who reportedly own villas in cherished The Palm Islands in Dubai. The Islands, also named as the “eighth wonder of the world”, are home to several industrialists of Dubai including Masood Naseeb of the Elysian Group.
 Sources said the minister finalized the deal in Dubai recently after hectic negotiations with the villa owners.  
 Another senior minister in the state cabinet, the sources said, recently entered into a pact with a company which provides machinery pertaining to the work the ministry is supposed to undertake. First, the sources said, the minister demanded 20 percent commission from the company against the material to be supplied. “When the deal didn’t finalize, the minister negotiated at over 10 percent commission, earning about Rs 6 crore in a deal of Rs 50 crore,” the source said.
 Another cabinet minister, according to sources, is busy in “real estate business” in the Valley. He, the sources said, is trying to buy as much property as possible.
 As if it were not enough, another cabinet minister has earned Rs 5 crore against the transfers of officials made in the past one and a half year. “He would take money from officials on the promise that they would be transferred to their places of choice,” the sources said.
 According to sources, the cabinet colleagues would talk privately about the “sources” through which the ministers in question receive money. “Such allegations against the ministers are talk of the town. God only knows about the veracity of such reports,” said a cabinet minister, wishing not to be named. “It is for the investigating agencies to look into the allegations and bring the truth to light.”
 The reports not only indicate gross violation of the austerity measures by the Jammu and Kashmir government, but also raise a question on the sources of income of the ministers.
 A senior bureaucrat said the matter must be probed by a high-level committee. “If there are any such reports, the chief minister, Omar Abdullah, must institute an impartial inquiry to bring the facts to light. Apparently it seems that the public money is being misused because no minister in Jammu and Kashmir can afford to purchase a villa in Dubai, given his known sources of income. So it should be a matter of concern,” the bureaucrat, pleading anonymity, said.
 The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts.
 However, Omar, according to highly placed sources, brought into the notice of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today the malpractices by some of his cabinet colleagues, bringing disrepute to the state Government.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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