SRINAGAR: As the state government fails to revamp the prestigious J&K Housing Board, employees of the board choose to debate and defend their interests directly with the incharge Managing Director of the Board.
The employees of the board of all cadres of late devised a unique mechanism to give vent to their feelings on one hand and on the other hand take the MD to the task by inviting him to the meeting which was fundamentally convened to highlight the issue pertaining to the unauthorized transfer of about 28 crore to other departments by the MD over last one year. It merits a mention here that several newspaper reports highlighted during recent past that the MD has transferred huge amount of the board money to other departments for unauthorized works which primarily do not fall under its domain.
However, the employees were irked by MD’s latest move in which he transferred Rs. 4.5 crore to J&K Industries on September 17 when the state was braving the devastating floods.
Pertinently the Housing Board has no budgetary support from the government and it earns from the construction projects allotted to it on DPRs. The board employees get salaries from the amount earned by it in execution of development projects.
Sensing the seriousness of the issue of transfer of board money to the government departments and spending it on unapproved projects, the board employees on Thursday convened a meeting and invited its MD also to take him to the task.
Sources in the housing board said that the employees highlighted the misappropriation of funds and sought reply from the MD. However, sources said the MD was Caught on wrong foot and could not give account of the money and the reasons thereof to transfer the money to other departments. Sources said it was perhaps for the first time that employees of any government organisation sought direct reply from the head of the department in a meeting. The employees of the housing board have set a deadline for reimbursement of the huge amount transferred to other departments unauthorized by the MD. we have set october10 as deadline for our MD to get back the huge amount transferred by him failing which the employees will devise further course of action” said a senior official of the board. He said that the employees can even nock at the door of State Accountability Commission or the vigilance organisation for thorough probe into the alleged misappropriation of the funds.
Managing Director Housing Board, Ram Pal said, The money was transferred to JK Industries temporarily because the banks were not functional but the money has been transferred back to Boards account. (KNS)
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