Srinagar, July 19: Exactly a year before, the Jammu and Kashmir Government had assured a thorough probe into the complaints of corruption charges against some ministers. The complaints included that a senior cabinet minister had purchased a villa in the famed The Dubai Palms, world’s largest man-made islands in the United Arab Emirates. But the Government is yet to apprise public on the status of the probe.
On July 18 last year, this newspaper had reported that a senior minister had purchased the Villa while some other cabinet ministers were amassing money through ‘illegal gratifications’, bringing disrepute to the state government. And on July 19 last year, the government issued an official handout which read: “Taking cognizance of the report, the government has asked the vigilance Commissioner to conduct a preliminary enquiry to ascertain the veracity of these allegations and submit a report.”
Apart from Dubai villa deal, reports said that some other ministers were allegedly involved in wrongdoings. These included a cabinet minister who had then entered into a pact with a company which provides machinery pertaining to the work the ministry is supposed to undertake.  The minister had allegedly demanded 20 percent commission from the company against the material to be supplied. When the deal didn’t finalize, the minister had negotiated at over 10 percent commission, earning crores in the deal. In another complaint, it was alleged that another cabinet minister had been busy in “real estate business” in the Valley who is on a purchasing spree of land in and around the Srinagar city while yet another cabinet minister had allegedly earned Rs 5 crore against the transfers of officials made in the past one and a half year.
So far the Government has failed to come up with the status of the cases, raising a question mark over its recurring assurance on fighting corruption in the state. “The Government must inform people about the status of the probe,” said a government official, wishing anonymity. “It should come clean on the issue because it has been a year since the probe has been ordered. People have a right to know about the investigation, if at all it has taken place and how far the complaints were true. There is a full-fledged State Vigilance Organization which could have probed the matter independently, after taking a cue from the complaints.”

Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST