Though regularisation of casual labours is a welcome step but government is turning a blind eye to the bribery practices adopted by the officials and the leaders of employee unions in the district offices of several departments in the name of regularisation of the casual labours announced by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu recently. Much before the empowered committee set up by the government under the chairmanship of the principal secretary of the finance department would start its work for scrutinizing the records to shortlist the casusal labours becoming eligible for regularisation the officials in the offices of executive engineers of the engineering departments and district offices of the other departments have started luring gullible youth engaged as casual labours during last several years and collecting hefty amounts as bribe from them for their induction in the final list of the regularisation. Unfortunately the officials working in district offices of several departments have built up a strong nexus with the leaders of some employee unions to take bribes from the gullible casusal labours for their induction in the lists to be finalized for regularisation by the government’s empowered committed under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary of the finance department.
The work of the empowered committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship of the principal secretary of finance department for finalizing the list of the bonafide casual labours becoming eligible for regularisation would be eased only if the government initiates stringent actions against those officials working in nexus with the the leaders of some employee unions taking bribe from the gullible youth for their induction in the final regularisation lists of the casual labours.
The bribery allegations against the officials of the district offices of PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Roads & Buildings, Power Development , Agriculture, Horticulture,Urban Local Bodies, Forest and Rural Development departments are more rampant and it looks as if government has given the officials of the district offices of these departments working hand in glove with the leaders of some employee unions a license to loot the gullible youth. If government does not contemplate actions to apply breaks on the unprecedented rise in the trends and tendencies of bribery in the name of the regularisation policy of the casusal labours, the regularisation initiative taken by the incumbent government to put to its credit a bigger recruitment drive may ultimately discredit it. The biggest challenge for the empowered committee would be the short listing of the bonafide casual labours without allowing the inclusion of non existing names in the final list of the beneficiaries. Apprehensions of the inclusion of non existing casual labours have arisen because of the revelations that the number of casual labour put at around 60,000 last year has risen to one lakh this year. So by all standards of understandabilities the work of the empowered committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship of the principal secretary of finance department for finalizing the list of the bonafide casual labours becoming eligible for regularisation would be eased only if the government initiates stringent actions against those officials working in nexus with the the leaders of some employee unions taking bribe from the gullible youth for their induction in the final regularisation lists of the casual labours. All depends on the working of the empowered committee set up by the government for implementing the regularisation of the bonafide casual labours working in several departments for the last ten or more than ten years.
