Officer alleges harassment for highlighting bungling

Jammu, August 28

A senior Dalit IAS officer, Ashok Kumar Parmar, has accused Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta of harassing, humiliating and intimidating him for highlighting bungling in the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in J&K. Parmar, Chairman of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, J&K, mentioned in his complaint to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that he was being harassed for his scheduled caste (SC) status and also highlighting the irregularities.

“The JJM is being implemented in the UT without SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. I had pointed it out in a meeting on August 2 last year that the JJM works were slow because of erroneous and faulty procedure for allotment for works by misinterpreting the clause 4.5.2 of the Manual of Procurement of Works, 2019, that one contractor can be awarded only two works at a time,” he stated.

The 1992 AGMUT cadre Dalit officer has stated in the complaint that after completion of his tenure of central deputation in March 2022, he was posted as the Principal Secretary with the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, J&K. “Manoj Sinha threw me out of the meeting room on June 6, 2022, to harass and humiliate me without my fault,” he alleged.

While talking to The Tribune, Parmar confirmed that he had lodged a complaint with the NCSC.

Attempts were made to get comments from L-G’s Media Advisor Yatish Yadav, but he didn’t respond.