The Congress-JD (S) coalition government in Karnataka is a glaring example of everything that is wrong with coalition governments consisting of non-BJP parties. The unholy and scam ridden alliance of JD (S) and Congress came to power in Karnataka last year. Even though the mandate was heavily in favour of the BJP, just short of the clear majority mark, the pseudo-secular parties got together to form a government against the general will of the people of Karnataka.
Ever since the coalition government came to power in Karnataka, a number of massive scams have come to light. Now, it has been reported that the Karnataka Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has raided the BBMP Zonal Office in Bommanahalli. This raid has exposed a massive scam by the garbage mafia. The nexus between the contractors and BBMP officials have been exposed. As per The News Minute, Bangalore’s garbage mafia is an open secret and the people were disgruntled by the manner in which the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) functions.
BBMP Joint Commissioner for Solid Waste Management, Sarfaraz Khan, led an investigation for more than one-and-a half years following which fake bills raised towards 6,600 non-existent pourakarmikas were unearthed. A discrepancy to the tune of Rs 384 crore in the diversion of provident and insurance fund money of the non-existent pourakarmikas also came to light. Sarfaraz Khan acted as a whistle blower and submitted a report to BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, who, in turn, filed a complaint with the Anti Corruption Bureau. Sarfaraz Khan said, “I was deputed in Yelahanka zone as the zonal joint commissioner and was handling 11 wards. I used to be on the field every morning to check pourakarmikas’ attendance and noticed a variation in the numbers as claimed in the bills. The same exercise was conducted after I was elevated to BBMP’s head office to look after the entire city’s solid waste management.”
As stated earlier, this is not for the first time ever since the JD (S)-Congress coalition came to power in Karnataka that a huge scam has been reported in the state of Karnataka. In the month of December last year, a massive scam in implementation of the MNREGA was unearthed. A major scam of Rs. 410 crores was unearthed at that time. A social audit was carried out which exposed this scam. The irregularities included payments for work not done, payments in excess of work done, double payments and payments in excess of the bill amount. The audit looked into MNREGA in 467 Gram Panchayats across the state of Karnataka. More than 92,000 cases of irregularities were flagged in the audit. Thereafter, in the same month, the Comptroller Auditor and General found irregularities in Karnataka government’s land grant as well as in the land usage and eviction of encroachment. The CAG found that approximately 117 acres of government land was granted against the norms to over two dozen beneficiaries which included the Congress party too. However, the most shocking consequence of misgovernance in Karnataka turned out to be the cruel joke that the coalition government played on the farmers of the state after promising a farm loan waiver in the run up to the assembly polls earlier last year. The Congress-JD(S) alliance announced farm loan waiver worth 44,000 crore rupees but till December last year, only 800 farmers had received its benefits. Minister for Co-operation in H. D. Kumaraswamy cabinet, Bandeppa Kashempur had admitted the delay in the legislative assembly and tried justifying it with flimsy technical reasons. This was more than enough to show the kind of misgovernance that was unleashed in Karnataka by the incumbent coalition government.