Maharashtra chief minister Prathviraj Chavan is finding it difficult to check mafias controlling the system through oil, sand, milk, power and other sectors besides the all powerful builders lobby. Mr Chavan’s attempts to go to the root cause could shake his chief ministerial chair, fear common men in the state.
If the gruesome murder of additional district Collector Yashwant Sonawane near Manmad in Nashik district a few days ago showed the weakness of the system and power of mafias, aam admi is not optimistic that the Congress-NCP government can check the powerful lobby of mafias.
“They (Congress-NCP and the Shiv Sena-BJP) have been getting strength from the mafias during elections, they have been giving dealership of oil, gas and kerosene to their protégés who have direct link with the rulers, bureaucrats. That is why the current raids and arrests of some of them is of no consequence,” said a railway official at Solapur.
Another retired government official at Osmanabad said this issue could be raised in the state legislature and Parliament . And that’s all.
Mr Chavan cannot even win an Assembly by election if he antagonises these mafias. “Chavan is a straight forward, a good meaning person with a clean image but can he afford to open up a battle on many fronts against mafias? They will send him back to New Delhi,” they felt.
Late chief minister Sudhakarrao Naik had tried to touch some of the mafia’s but had to quit against the backdrop of communal riots during 1992-93.
A number of sugar factories have not paid electricity bills which is in lakhs and crores of rupees. Power theft is common in rural and urban areas. Politicians have entered into construction business and thus buying land in large numbers. They are also in the education field, running professional colleges, including medical and engineering colleges, and thus trying to control the government and influence policies.
A senior leader and a Union minister had even expressed concerned over growing proximity between the Opposition leaders and builders.
Meanwhile, a PTI report from Mumbai says, a 15-year-old report on curbing oil adulteration menace prepared by a former IAS officer is gathering dust at the state secretariat.
“I submitted the report to the government in 1995-96. Nothing has been done so far,” Leena Mehendale, the then Nashik divisional commissioner, told the news agency. “The report came to Mantralaya (secretariat). All that we learnt was that no action was going to be taken (on the report),” said Ms Mehendale, who retired last year as additional chief secretary.
“I recommended that petrol and kerosene licenses should not be given to the same person,” she said, adding that the government has turned a blind eye towards this suggestion, leading to rampant adulteration.
Ms Mehendale had discussed the issue with the then Law Secretary of Maharashtra, seeking an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). She suggested that rationing inspectors should get the right to file cases in court.
The retired bureaucrat said: “The other day, I saw on TV Congress leader Rahul Gandhi answering a query on my report. Rahul said he wants to bring in systemic changes and transform the system.
This is a welcome announcement, but if you want to bring in changes, there is a need to change the procedure.”
“In case of such reports, the least that can be done is to call the officer concerned to Mantralaya for consultation, instead of dumping the report in cold storage.”
A final decision on the report can’t be taken by the officer. It has to be taken by the Cabinet...By the Minister concerned, she said.
“Why do we have such a system where a field officer sends a report, but the government decides that no action is to be taken without assigning any reason? a senior official sought to know.
Ms Mehendale prepared the report based on the then Dhule Additional Collector’s monthly figures on fuel adulteration. She examined two years’ audit of fuel consumption and was shocked to see no proper records were being kept by kerosene and petrol dealers.