Corrupt Jorhat treasury officials demand bribe to clear pension files

From a Correspondent

JORHAT, April 7: Retired school headmasters harassed by treasury department officials in Jorhat is nothing new, not until Hemodhar Kalita, retired headmaster of mgorumora BB High School of Jorhat decided to report it to the Deputy Commissioner of Jorhat, Solanki Vishal Vasant on April 6. The headmaster alleged that Rubul Bora and his colleague Pradip Rajkhowa, both staff of the Jorhat Treasury office, had demanded Rs 50,000 as bribe for handing over the file (ADP/PPO/GPO/2014/018588) which was already cleared by the AG (Accountant General) office in Guwahati on  January 11, 2015.

Investigation into the matter has confirmed about the DC Jorhat taking strict action regarding complaint by the pensioner and has forwarded the matter for immediate action to the special desigted officer of the Vigilance cell in the rank of an Additiol Superintendent of Police and a copy each to the ADC (P) & ADC (Education) for immediate action.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, through a special order, had directed the pension of 31 retired headmasters of Jorhat district to be paid from the Jorhat treasury, thus reducing the trouble of the pensioners to travel to Guwahati. Accordingly, the AG office through a collective order cleared the settlement files of the pensioners way back in January, 2015. But corrupt officials like Rubul Bora kept the files hiding and kept telling the pensioners that the files had not arrived from the Guwahati AG office. It was only after repeated calls when the AG office handed the pensioners the dispatch note of the postal department that the whole matter came to the light. The corrupt officials first demanded a sum of Rs 30,000 and later increased it to Rs 50,000 to deliver the pension settlement files, as alleged by Hemodhar Kalita in his complain to the DC Jorhat.

Talking to The Sentinel, senior advocate of the Jorhat Bar Association Indrajit Kakoti said, “It is a great shame that the treasury officials demand money from people like a headmaster or a school teacher. If this be the situation in the Chief Minister’s home constituency, imagine the plight of people who are victims of corruption in other parts of the State. I demand strict punishment for the culprits.”