Minister quits, system reeks!

Karnataka’s rural development and Panchayat raj minister K.S. Eshwarappa has finally done what most politicians knew he would do by resigning from the cabinet averring that he would be back after proving his innocence. His exit was preceded by high drama with the Opposition Congress upping the ante for his resignation following the death of a civil contractor at an Udupi lodge. Santosh Patil had accused Eshwarappa of harassing him for commission-as high as 40 per cent- for a Rs 4 crore government project forcing him to cross the brink of despair and kill himself.

‘Cuts’ and government projects are an inalienable part of the ‘business of every government in Independent India and have helped politicians and the parties they represent fill their coffers in ample measure. The first ‘cut’ has to be made when the project is being allotted and once it is completed, begins the never ending wait for bills to be cleared which again necessitates a series of ‘cuts’ which bleed the contractor white. Any lapse in the road, bridge or dam the contractor has built, will be covered up with bundles of currency notes leaving the poor citizen, who honestly coughs up his taxes, at the mercy of faulty civic work.

And if we are doomed to suffer back-breaking roads, drains which do not drain away rain water and bridges which start breaking at the seams hardly a few years after they are built, it is because of this government-contractor nexus which has evolved into a behemoth of corruption sucking away valuable resources of the state.

Eshwarappa may one day return to his role in state politics if he gets a clean chit from the investigating agency. But that in no way means that the debilitating practice of cuts and commission does not exist-in fact it flourishes whenever polls are round the corner and whether it be a BJP government or that of the Congress, the payments have to be made to those in power.

Transparency in the functioning of the government, an eagle’s eye on the projects conceived and implemented and every paisa spent, is the only way corruption can be checked if it cannot be totally rooted out. It’s not difficult for aware citizens to calculate the cost of raw material, profit margins and labour costs and decide for themselves if project estimates have been blown out of proportion to make sure those in government get their walloping payoffs. Public audits and critical scrutiny by experts will make sure projects serve the intended purpose and are not a means to drain away state resources into the pockets of a few.

The recent incident of a flyover in the state’s capital turning unsafe just a few years after it was built, forcing traffic diversions, shows how unscrupulous those involved in creating public facilities have become. And more startling was the CM’s statement that a staggering Rs 20,000 crore had been spent on repairing the city’s roads making one wonder whether it had all been stashed under the roads and not used to top them up!

The fault lies with us-the chalta he attitude- and it’s only when we as responsible citizens, stand up to our politicos and builders and demand our due that the system will start shedding the dirty practices which have accumulated over the decades.