At the corps of land scandals: The nation's biggest landlord the army is being exploited by unscrupulous officers to make money on the sly
By Gautam Datt UPDATED: 00:22 GMT, 7 February 2012
The defenders of our country and its borders are fighting a secret enemy – which has threatened their dignity and integrity – greed. And at the centre of greed is the humongous amount of land that has been given to the Indian Army by the government for the purpose of establishing its cantonments, offices, residential property, etc.
In fact, the ministry of defence is the biggest landholder in the government with a holding of 17.31 lakh acres of land across the country.
However, in the recent years this land – thousands of acres of which has been notified as 'excess' by a CAG audit – has been utilised by some senior officers as an opportunity for corruption. And they didn't have to try hard for finding a partner and the ways to use this 'encroached' or excess land. Various land sharks always on the lookout for an opportunity to grab the defence land eagerly join hands with these unscrupulous officers to make a quick buck.
TAINT ON UNIFORM: MAJOR SCAMS THAT SHAMED ARMY
Read more: Click here for CAG report and List of Scams
Showing posts with label Illegal Encroachments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illegal Encroachments. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, December 5, 2011
Military Land Scams: Culture of Corruption
Laudable aims but difficult to achieve when embedded in a culture of corruption!
DIRECTORATE GENERAL DEFENCE ESTATES
Directorate General, Defence Estates (DGDE) is the Headquarters of the Indian Defence Estates Service. DGDE provides advisory inputs on all Cantonments and Land matters to the Ministry of Defence and Service Headquarters ie Army, Navy, Air Force and other organizations under Ministry of Defence. Acquisition of lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation of displaced persons, Hiring and requisitioning of lands and buildings, are some of the responsibilities of DGDE. It also ensures implementation of Cantonments Act 2006, Policies, Rules & Regulations and Executive instructions.
DGDE has under its jurisdiction six Principal Directorates namely, Principal Directors, Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern, South-western and Western Command. Under the Principal Directorates there are 37 Defence Estates Offices and 4 ADEO Circles for management of defence lands in the country.
There are 62 Cantonment Boards. These are local bodies responsible for providing civic administration and implementing the Central Govt schemes of social welfare, public health, hygiene, safety, water supply, sanitation, urban renewal and education.
Vision
To manage defence land effectively and efficiently and provide an efficient, effective, transparent and honest civic and development oriented administration in Cantonments. To make the Indian Defence Estates Service an institution of Excellence.
Mission
Land being a scarce and precious national resource and Cantonments becoming part of urban agglomeration, Defence Estates Department would strive to achieve the following:
•Transform Cantonments into model local bodies for improving quality of life of its residents through:
1.People friendly administration
2.Effective delivery systems
3.Transparent and result-oriented governance
4.Zero tolerance to corruption and mal-practices
5.Making adequate provisions for health and education services including vocational training
6.Caring for senior citizens and the disadvantaged
•Protect environment and heritage
•Make optimum utilization of land resources
•Protection and maintenance of defence lands and land records
•Manage defence land effectively and provide help to stake-holders in land management
•Prompt problem resolution
•Be effective advisers to Government
•Leverage technology including e-governance in all aspects of administration and land management
DGDE
DIRECTORATE GENERAL DEFENCE ESTATES
Directorate General, Defence Estates (DGDE) is the Headquarters of the Indian Defence Estates Service. DGDE provides advisory inputs on all Cantonments and Land matters to the Ministry of Defence and Service Headquarters ie Army, Navy, Air Force and other organizations under Ministry of Defence. Acquisition of lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation of displaced persons, Hiring and requisitioning of lands and buildings, are some of the responsibilities of DGDE. It also ensures implementation of Cantonments Act 2006, Policies, Rules & Regulations and Executive instructions.
DGDE has under its jurisdiction six Principal Directorates namely, Principal Directors, Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern, South-western and Western Command. Under the Principal Directorates there are 37 Defence Estates Offices and 4 ADEO Circles for management of defence lands in the country.
There are 62 Cantonment Boards. These are local bodies responsible for providing civic administration and implementing the Central Govt schemes of social welfare, public health, hygiene, safety, water supply, sanitation, urban renewal and education.
Vision
To manage defence land effectively and efficiently and provide an efficient, effective, transparent and honest civic and development oriented administration in Cantonments. To make the Indian Defence Estates Service an institution of Excellence.
Mission
Land being a scarce and precious national resource and Cantonments becoming part of urban agglomeration, Defence Estates Department would strive to achieve the following:
•Transform Cantonments into model local bodies for improving quality of life of its residents through:
1.People friendly administration
2.Effective delivery systems
3.Transparent and result-oriented governance
4.Zero tolerance to corruption and mal-practices
5.Making adequate provisions for health and education services including vocational training
6.Caring for senior citizens and the disadvantaged
•Protect environment and heritage
•Make optimum utilization of land resources
•Protection and maintenance of defence lands and land records
•Manage defence land effectively and provide help to stake-holders in land management
•Prompt problem resolution
•Be effective advisers to Government
•Leverage technology including e-governance in all aspects of administration and land management
DGDE
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Indian Army battles encroachments of its lands in cities
Army, corporator fight over 'encroached' land by Hemanth CS, DNA, Updated: December 09, 2010 15:40 IST
Bangalore: The Indian Army not only has to deal with incursions on the borders but also with alleged encroachment of its lands within cities where their bases are located.
The Parachute Regiment Training Centre (PRTC) in Bangalore is one such. A local corporator has allegedly not just encroached upon its land in two separate locations adjoining HD Deve Gowda Road in RT Nagar, but also built a commercial complex and a petrol bunk there.
Documents with the PRTC officials show that a total of 27.87 guntas of land has been allegedly encroached upon by JC Nagar corporator N Govindaraju (of ward no 46).
Govindaraju claims the land is his ancestral property and insists that he is in possession of the PRTC land which had been handed over to the Central government by the Mysore State after it merged with the Indian Union in the 1950s.
"The Mysore State Force handed over 613 acres and 33 guntas of land to the government of India after the state's merger. This land which was used by the Mysore Lancers and the Mysore Infantry and given to Ministry of Defence in 1955. But over the years small portions of our lands have been encroached upon," a senior official of the PRTC told DNA.
The encroached land on which the petrol pump and commercial complex have come up fall under survey no 42 of Matadahalli and survey no 1 of Saverline villages.
Read more at:
Army, corporator fight over 'encroached' land
How the Army Lands are ursurped and encroached?
Local civil cantonment/ municipal elected councillors are the real culprits who allow criminals to surreptitiously and silently encroach Military Lands over a period of time in collusion with the Defence Estate officers who get a kick back on regular basis. The Military is often made a scapegoat as it has no wherewithal to fight the Political criminals and prefer to turn a blind eye to encroachments!
Bangalore: The Indian Army not only has to deal with incursions on the borders but also with alleged encroachment of its lands within cities where their bases are located.
The Parachute Regiment Training Centre (PRTC) in Bangalore is one such. A local corporator has allegedly not just encroached upon its land in two separate locations adjoining HD Deve Gowda Road in RT Nagar, but also built a commercial complex and a petrol bunk there.
Documents with the PRTC officials show that a total of 27.87 guntas of land has been allegedly encroached upon by JC Nagar corporator N Govindaraju (of ward no 46).
Govindaraju claims the land is his ancestral property and insists that he is in possession of the PRTC land which had been handed over to the Central government by the Mysore State after it merged with the Indian Union in the 1950s.
"The Mysore State Force handed over 613 acres and 33 guntas of land to the government of India after the state's merger. This land which was used by the Mysore Lancers and the Mysore Infantry and given to Ministry of Defence in 1955. But over the years small portions of our lands have been encroached upon," a senior official of the PRTC told DNA.
The encroached land on which the petrol pump and commercial complex have come up fall under survey no 42 of Matadahalli and survey no 1 of Saverline villages.
Read more at:
Army, corporator fight over 'encroached' land
How the Army Lands are ursurped and encroached?
Local civil cantonment/ municipal elected councillors are the real culprits who allow criminals to surreptitiously and silently encroach Military Lands over a period of time in collusion with the Defence Estate officers who get a kick back on regular basis. The Military is often made a scapegoat as it has no wherewithal to fight the Political criminals and prefer to turn a blind eye to encroachments!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Be fair to Defence Forces
My dear Brigadier Kamboj,
I am attaching herewith a letter published by Mail Today in today's paper (22 Aug 2010, Page 32). Click in the following link to see the paper.The unpublished part of the letter cab be seen in the next page.
http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=2282010
Regards,
Brigadier V Mahalingam.
BE FAIR TO DEFENCE FORCES
THE CHAIRMAN of the empowered group of ministers, S Jaipal Reddy, has written a letter to the defence ministry seeking waiver of Rs 11 crore due to them for the services rendered in connection with the Commonwealth Games. The army has been singled out for providing free services while crores of rupees are being spent and a large part of it allegedly squandered.
Why doesn’t the government seek similar free service from other government employees or those of the public sector undertakings? To say the least, the army’s discipline is being exploited by the political class and the bureaucracy.
The defence services are called out, be it for floods, earthquakes, elections in troubled areas such as J& K, or any other crisis including the self- created ones such as the Commonwealth Games. The government, on the other hand, is on a one- way street refusing to listen to their legitimate grievances.
This frustrates these very soldiers and the military veterans who are made to run around and approach the courts to provide them justice. Even after the highest court of the land had ordered the government to clear the rank pay dues, an anomaly created at the time of fourth pay commission, that is over two decades ago, the government has decided to go back to the Supreme Court to deny them their dues. Incidentally, the rank pay had been arbitrarily denied so as to keep their pay below that of equivalent bureaucrats.
A large number of officers and their widows who are entitled for these dues have died. The Government is perhaps waiting for the rest also to pass away before agreeing to pay their dues. The One Rank One Pension demand of the veterans backed by various parliamentary committees and very senior leaders has remained a non starter.
Brigadier V Mahalingam (Retd)
UNPUBLISHED PORTION OF THE LETTER
Zamindars of the bygone era gave a few measures of paddy to their workers and extracted all types of services from him or her. The zamingari system has ended but it appears that the Zamindar mentality of our politicians and bureaucracy is still fresh in their minds. Otherwise how else can one explain their demand for free services? It is time that the Job description, job content and the number of hours of working per week in respect of the soldiers are clearly enunciated and they paid additional remuneration for additional work they are forced to do beyond their legitimate duty as in the case of overtime being paid to other Government employees.
I am attaching herewith a letter published by Mail Today in today's paper (22 Aug 2010, Page 32). Click in the following link to see the paper.The unpublished part of the letter cab be seen in the next page.
http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=2282010
Regards,
Brigadier V Mahalingam.
BE FAIR TO DEFENCE FORCES
THE CHAIRMAN of the empowered group of ministers, S Jaipal Reddy, has written a letter to the defence ministry seeking waiver of Rs 11 crore due to them for the services rendered in connection with the Commonwealth Games. The army has been singled out for providing free services while crores of rupees are being spent and a large part of it allegedly squandered.
Why doesn’t the government seek similar free service from other government employees or those of the public sector undertakings? To say the least, the army’s discipline is being exploited by the political class and the bureaucracy.
The defence services are called out, be it for floods, earthquakes, elections in troubled areas such as J& K, or any other crisis including the self- created ones such as the Commonwealth Games. The government, on the other hand, is on a one- way street refusing to listen to their legitimate grievances.
This frustrates these very soldiers and the military veterans who are made to run around and approach the courts to provide them justice. Even after the highest court of the land had ordered the government to clear the rank pay dues, an anomaly created at the time of fourth pay commission, that is over two decades ago, the government has decided to go back to the Supreme Court to deny them their dues. Incidentally, the rank pay had been arbitrarily denied so as to keep their pay below that of equivalent bureaucrats.
A large number of officers and their widows who are entitled for these dues have died. The Government is perhaps waiting for the rest also to pass away before agreeing to pay their dues. The One Rank One Pension demand of the veterans backed by various parliamentary committees and very senior leaders has remained a non starter.
Brigadier V Mahalingam (Retd)
UNPUBLISHED PORTION OF THE LETTER
Zamindars of the bygone era gave a few measures of paddy to their workers and extracted all types of services from him or her. The zamingari system has ended but it appears that the Zamindar mentality of our politicians and bureaucracy is still fresh in their minds. Otherwise how else can one explain their demand for free services? It is time that the Job description, job content and the number of hours of working per week in respect of the soldiers are clearly enunciated and they paid additional remuneration for additional work they are forced to do beyond their legitimate duty as in the case of overtime being paid to other Government employees.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The silent Bangladeshi invasion of Assam
2010-05-14 17:52:29Subir Ghosh
A week ago, an unsettling incident occurred in Assam that went largely unnoticed in the Indian media.
Over a thousand suspected illegal migrants crossed the Dhansiri river and, with impunity, took over parts of Orang National Park in Darrang district in the early hours of May 6, 2010
India has 20 million illegal migrants
Enumeration of electors in Assam by the Election Commission showed more than 30 per cent increase in 17 Assembly constituencies and more than 20 per cent increase in 40 constituencies between 1994 and 1997.
Read more: The silent Bangladeshi invasion of Assam
Subir Ghosh is a senior Delhi -based journalist. He blogs at http://www.write2kill.in/
Monday, December 28, 2009
Antony discusses scam report with Army chief
PTI First Published: 25 Dec 2009 11:47:24 AM IST
NEW DELHI: With four Generals coming under cloud over alleged fraud in the sale of a civilian land near Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony summoned Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor for a meeting in which they reportedly discussed the contents of the probe on the issue.
Antony, on his return from Hyderabad in the afternoon, called for a meeting with Kapoor and the two were closeted for about 40 minutes, Defence Ministry officials said this evening.
"It was a closed door, one-on-one meeting," officials said, denying knowledge of the meeting's agenda.
Army military secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, Deputy Chief of Army Staff-designate Lt Gen P K Rath, 11 Corps Commander Lt Gen Ramesh Halgalli and Major General P C Sen were reportedly found culpable for issuing a No-Objection Certificate to a private institution, which falsely claimed to set up an affiliate of the famed Ajmer-based Mayo College, adjacent to Sukhna military station.
The Court of Inquiry into the fraud, which was completed a fortnight ago, had submitted its report, on the basis of which Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen V K Singh reportedly made recommendations to Army Chief to initiate strict action against these senior officers, who had a role in the NOC episode.
Antony discusses scam report with Army chief
Illegal encroachment of defence lands
What has MoD done to evict illegal encroachment of defence lands by unscrupulous elements having local political criminal connections? The DEO's are silent spectators to illegal occupation of defence lands in all the Military Cantonments.
NEW DELHI: With four Generals coming under cloud over alleged fraud in the sale of a civilian land near Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony summoned Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor for a meeting in which they reportedly discussed the contents of the probe on the issue.
Antony, on his return from Hyderabad in the afternoon, called for a meeting with Kapoor and the two were closeted for about 40 minutes, Defence Ministry officials said this evening.
"It was a closed door, one-on-one meeting," officials said, denying knowledge of the meeting's agenda.
Army military secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, Deputy Chief of Army Staff-designate Lt Gen P K Rath, 11 Corps Commander Lt Gen Ramesh Halgalli and Major General P C Sen were reportedly found culpable for issuing a No-Objection Certificate to a private institution, which falsely claimed to set up an affiliate of the famed Ajmer-based Mayo College, adjacent to Sukhna military station.
The Court of Inquiry into the fraud, which was completed a fortnight ago, had submitted its report, on the basis of which Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen V K Singh reportedly made recommendations to Army Chief to initiate strict action against these senior officers, who had a role in the NOC episode.
Antony discusses scam report with Army chief
Illegal encroachment of defence lands
What has MoD done to evict illegal encroachment of defence lands by unscrupulous elements having local political criminal connections? The DEO's are silent spectators to illegal occupation of defence lands in all the Military Cantonments.
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