PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The suspension of two IAS, one PCS and four other officers in the Haridwar land scam case has sent shockwaves in the bureaucracy of Uttarakhand. The stern action on the district magistrate (DM) of Haridwar Karmendra Singh, the then municipal commissioner of Haridwar Varun Chaudhary and former Sub Divisional Magistrate ( SDM) of Haridwar, Ajayvir Singh has shocked the babubom of the State. Haridwar DM, Karmendra Singh was promoted to the IAS cadre in the year 2011 while former Municipal commissioner of Haridwar Varun Chaudhary is an officer of 2017 batch of IAS. He currently is an additional secretary in the State administration.
The suspension of the two IAS officers in the Haridwar land scam case is the biggest action on the officers of the elite cadre after suspension of two IAS officers (Pankaj Pandey and Chandresh Yadav) in September 2018 in the irregularity involving work on widening of the Haridwar- Bareilly National Highway (NH – 74). The multi crore scam occurred during the years 2011 to 2016. It was found that many times more compensation was provided to the farmers whose lands were acquired in road broadening.
By taking stern action on 12 officers including two IAS and one PCS officers in the Haridwar land scam case, CM Dhami has given a clear message to the bureaucracy that the corruption will not be tolerated.
The CM has also ordered a comprehensive inquiry by the vigilance department in the scam to unearth the money trail and the chain of the culprits involved.
He also ordered cancellation of the sale deed of the land which allegedly was purchased by the Municipal Corporation of Haridwar at exorbitant price after change of land use. Dhami has also asked the authorities to recover the money given to the land owners in the case.
Further the CM ordered a special audit of all the works done during the tenure of Varun Chaudhary as municipal commissioner of Haridwar so that inquiry of the financial irregularities can be done.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday the State administration transferred the Tehri district magistrate Mayur Dixit to the post of Hariwar DM and additional secretary Nitika Khandelwal to the post of Tehri DM.
