| Putrid FCS
The recent reports of 1214 metric tonnes of rice of various qualities, altogether worth Rs 75 lakh (at government and not the market rate), missing from the Food and Civil Supplies, FCS godown shed No. 2, at Sangaiprou, points at one thing. The weed of corruption that has sunk into the government officialdom is firmly rooted and will stubbornly resist any effort to wipe it off.
This piece of atrocious thievery, coming as it does after another similar scandal just about a decade ago, and for which a senior IAS officer who was director at the time of the scandal was suspended from service hardly a week ago, proves how much like hardened criminals many in
the government service have become -- with absolutely no sense of remorse and worse still, shame.
It is amazing what greed and avarice does to people. Even men of social standing become blind, and willing to gamble away not just their own souls but the lives and welfare of others. Much of the rice that is missing from the FCS godown, it is learnt, are government subsidised rice meant for the section of the population that is below the poverty line, BPL.
Considering these scandals result only when official knavery is caught, it can well be imagine how many of these cases of outright and blatant corruption may have actually managed to dodge public vision and consequently the embarrassment of a scandal. As indeed, the prices of scandals in the state is as little as some embarrassments here and there, that fade sooner than later.
Such is the thickening of the skin of those running the establishment. We also believe, our feelings that the FCS is just a sore thumb of an establishment that has become rotten at
the very core, is shared by the public by and large.
The present scandal, as was reported in this newspaper, came to light after a transfer of posting
of an FCS godown No.2, store keeper, a post highly sought for very obvious reasons. As it turned out, the earlier store keeper was safekeeping not rice and other staple food items for the government, but top, murky secrets of official filth and outright robbery by the department. It is again a reasonable suspicion that the theft cannot be at the instance of a lowdown storekeeper alone. He could not have been doing more than keeping sentry while the store was being emptied,
for a share of the booty.
While the iron is hot, the government must strike. It must immediately institute an inquiry into the episode and come out publicly with the full truth. It must also award exemplary punishment to all found with a finger in the stolen pie. If it doesn't, let it be warned, other 'governments' will steal the thunder yet again. Mere scapegoating by dismissing a low ranking employee or two will not be able to buy back the lost public faith either. The entire detail must come out and be accounted for. This kind of scandal is extremely serious not just because of the public money wasted, but because of the consequences they have on the return of peace and normalcy in this troubled land.
We are of the opinion the criminals in these cases should merit charges of treason even. On the one hand, the government never tires of appealing to those who have rejected the establishment, to rejoin the mainstream of life. On the other, it does little or nothing about this mainstream becoming putrid and not worth joining.
(Courtesy: The
Imphal Free Press) |
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