ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS DECLINE TO DIVULDGE THEIR ASSETS UNDER RTI

 By Aires Rodrigues


Officers of the Goa’s Electricity department have declined to disclose their assets under the Right to Information Act. Under the Right to Information Act had been sought from every government department and government owned Corporations copies of the Annual property returns filed by the officers for the year 2010 and 2011.

A total of 111 officials of the electricity department are required to file their annual property returns which besides the Chief Electrical Engineer includes 2 Superintending engineers, 22 Executive Engineers and 86 Assistant Engineers.

While declining to furnish the information Electricity department Public Information Officer Mr. Bharat Nigalye who himself is a Executive Engineer has informed that the annual property returns of the officers was third party and personal information that could not be furnished under the Right to Information Act.

As per the Civil Services Rules all Group A and Group B officials are supposed to file their Annual Property Returns as on December 31 by January 31 of the next year.

Every other government department and all government corporations have furnished the information on Annual property returns of officers sought under RTI. The reason for the Electricity department to deny this information is very obvious.

In keeping with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise of zero tolerance to corruption, the annual property returns of all government officers should be displayed on the website of their department as is being done in most other States and also by Central government departments.

Some of the officers have filed their Annual property returns only after the information was sought under Right to Information Act. The returns filed by many officers are incomplete, evasive and misleading. Several officers had grossly under valued their acquired properties.

This over 1500 pages of information of annual property returns of officers received from various departments and corporations would be scrutinized and analyzed for discrepancies and a detailed report would be placed before the Goa Lokayukta as soon as he is appointed for necessary and appropriate action against those alleged erring officials.

WILL IT THIS TIME BE A BJP ATTACK?

 By Aires Rodrigues.

 Fighting corruption and battling injustice is no easy task. One often faces a backlash by way of crank calls, vicious anonymous letters and,more seriously, the risk of an attempt on one’s life. Over the  last four decades I have seen and endured it all. The 13th October 2008 brutal attack at Ashok Restaurant was the worst so far, but I had a miraculous escape. My time may have not have been up then. During the Congress rule I was branded as a BJP agent, the BJP may now feel that I am a Congress man.

In the last over 100 days the Manohar Parrikar government has taken a whole lot of wrong decisions and reneged on many of the promises made. And speaking out against all this is an imperative of civic conscience. My friends now keep cautioning me to be extra careful. They fear and anticipate, I may be harmed. They keep reminding me that the current government has a record of being vindictive and ruthless. However,whatever the risk one has to take this government cannot be allowed to function in the manner and on the path it is threading.

Over the years nobody has been able to intimidate me. I have never been cowed down by any threats or consequences that I have had to facefor speaking out fearlessly. Individuals come and go but the battle against Corruption and injustice can never be put aside. It is comforting that today a lot of youth, even in the rural areas, are conscious and alive to their duty to preserve social order. So this battle is here to stay and will go on with many more joining in. I have never hesitated to take on the powerful and mighty over a widerange of issues. I have never shied away from pursuing a whole host of issues involving senior politicians and well-connected bureaucrats.Even that October 13th, 2008 attempt on my life did not slow or cow medown.

I have had nothing personal against anyone while raising and fightingi ssues concerning public good. My highlighting an issue is bound tohurt some individuals. Have I hurt one too many? One has to have thespine to speak out against things that are wrong. I will relentlesslycontinue to high light any injustice that I see. Nothing shall determe, my commitment and determination in this regard. The risk of having to lay down one’s life is a very small price that one may have to payin the bigger struggle against corruption and injustice. With theOpposition parties having withdrawn to their cages, the role ofordinary citizens in acting as watch dogs to sniff out, check and highlight the misdeeds of this government becomes all the morecrucial.

Looking back over the last four decades, I do not regret having taken up any of the issues that I did. At times one pays a heavy price and fighting public causes does take a toll on your personal and family life. It’s been a long battle which I will carry till my very last. Many have advised me to at least carry a revolver for self defence. I feel more secure and protected with a 10 rupee court fee stamp in mypocket and the mantra of ‘Satyameva Jayate’ on my lips. That is allyou need to file an application under the Right to Information Act. Tounravel corruption, nepotism, injustice and fight against it. This isa battle that needs to be waged and must just go on.

WHERE IS THE LOKAYUKTA?

WHERE IS THE LOKAYUKTA?



By Aires Rodrigues

It was Mr. Manohar Parrikar’s election promise that the much needed Lokayukta would be functional in 100 days. Instead of fulfilling this one very important promise the Chief Minister as predicted by many has been focused on safronising the administration on a priority.

As per the Goa Lokayukta Act, the Lokayukta would be empowered to investigate all complaints of corruption and mal-administration too. The people of Goa did hope that this government would be different. But under the new regime, the only Parviratan is that the brokers and beneficiaries of corruption and nepotism have changed with Chief Minister Parrikar standing exposed of his double standards on his so called mantra of zero tolerance to Corruption.

While the Lokayukta should be speedily appointed, Chief Minister Parrikar should stay way from the process of selecting the Goa Lokayukta. It would be appropriate that the selection be done by the Goa Governor in consultation with the Bombay High Court. The Goa Lokayukta needs be a person of caliber, character, moral strength and conviction to remedy the rampant corruption and maladministration that Goa continues to find itself enveloped in. The setting up of the Goa Lokayukta should not be intentionally delayed.

It should also be the Goa Lokayukta itself that should screen and select the entire team of officers and staff that will work under him, so as to prevent persons with political connections from infiltrating into the Lokayukta machinery, which ought to be of impeccable integrity and extra-ordinary ability.

The Government has rightly decided to have the seat of the Goa Lokayukta at Ribandar which was earlier known as “Rai bandar”, the port where kings and rulers use to dock in splendour. Significantly today’s rulers both present and past will now be made to stand at Ribandar in the dock and be tried for their dark deeds by the Lokayukta.

Politicians have to be taken to task and penalized for all their misdeeds and Manohar Parrikar in the last four months in office has committed many. A fully documented complaint will be filed against the Chief Minister on the very day the Lokayukta is inaugurated