Everyone loves a good drought and perhaps a good flood too!!!!!!!
Time again for the bounty.
Vagish K. Jha



EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE

THE BIHAR FLOOD SCAM - PART I

Crores meant for Bihar flood victims flowed into babu black hole

High-profile ex-IAS officer Gautam Goswami's role under scrutiny; he
paid Rs 17 cr to govt firm which denies having received it; says
recipient doesn't even exist

VARGHESE K GEORGE


Posted online: Sunday, April 24, 2005 at 0154 hours IST
(Indian Express, April 24, 2005, Delhi Edition)



PATNA, APRIL 23: Floods ravage Bihar's poor every year—last year was
particularly bad. At least 800 were killed in July-August 2004, over
9,300 villages were marooned and 2.1 crore people affected. There were
riots over scarcity of relief, five were killed in police firing.

The then Rabri Devi Government released Rs 13 crore for flood relief.
An investigation by The Sunday Express, backed by official documents,
shows that the Government cannot explain what happened to almost 90
per cent of the money.

Under the scanner is the role of Gautam Goswami, then Patna District
Magistrate. A 1992 IAS officer, he was named by Time magazine, along
with Shah Rukh Khan, as a Young Asian Hero, a ''bureaucrat who helped
flood victims.'' Goswami resigned from the state government this
January to join Sahara Group as a Vice-President.

Official records show that Goswami got Rs 13 crore as relief—he added
another Rs 5 crore which the Chief Secretary alleges he diverted from
Railway funds—and paid Rs 17.18 crore to Bihar Small Scale Industries
Corporation (BSSIC), the sole organisation in charge of supplying
relief material.

So far so good, the numbers add up.

But there's a catch—and this is now the subject of an inquiry. Early
this month, BSSIC said it supplied material worth only Rs 22 lakh and
has so far been paid only Rs 13 lakh!

The rest of the money, documents show, went to an employee of BSSIC,
one B K Singh. He appears in records as the man raising bills and
getting payments from Goswami. BSSIC says there is no employee by that
name.

When contacted, M Prasad, Managing Director, BSSIC, confirmed this to
The Sunday Express: ''We received only around Rs 13 lakh. We do not
have an employee by the name of B K Singh.''

''The money could have been illegally siphoned off,'' admits Chief
Secretary K A H Subramaniam. ''A vigilance inquiry is on.''

What he doesn't mention is that this alleged siphoning of funds
happened under the nose of the state's top bureaucracy. And even when
the first objections were raised, no one called for any inquiry.

Consider the sequence of events:

• The Relief Department of the state government allotted Rs 13.4 crore
for relief under the heads of Evacuation: Rs 3.14 crore, Cash doles:
Rs 5.29 crore; Foodgrains: Rs 5.05 crore

• Goswami, deputed as the nodal officer for the entire state, withdrew
the entire amount in 10 instalments beginning July 12 and ending in
August, 2004.

• The day Goswami received the first installment, he also received a
bill on official BSSIC stationery signed by one B K Singh asking for
Rs 2 crore as advance. Over the next few weeks, Singh begins sending
bills and Goswami orders payments to BSSIC. On July 15, it's of Rs 50
lakh, Rs 1 crore on July 19, Rs 1.2 crore on July 21 and so on. Total:
Rs 17.18 crore.

• On August 14, Goswami reported he had incurred an expense of Rs 56
crore. He had already received Rs 13.4 crore and so he asked for an
additional Rs 43 crore. His breakup: Evacuation: Rs 20 crore, Cash
doles: Rs 8 crore, Foodgrain: Rs 15 crore.

• Goswami attached details of what he called the ''distribution'' of
materials by air and road.

• It was at this stage that the first red flag went up. K K Choubey,
Under Secretary (Audit) in the Relief Department, raised objections to
Goswami's demand based on startling discrepancies in his letter.

• Truckloads of relief were shown as being sent to areas which had no
access by road. The most blatant irregularity, Choubey pointed out,
was that Rs 8 crore was shown as having been paid in cash. Choubey
asked: It's technically possible that bills could be pending for
suppliers of materials but who distributed cash doles in advance and
where did the money for that come from?

• Phuleswar Paswan, Deputy Secretary, Relief Department, endorsed
these objections. Relief Commissioner Chandragupt Ashokvardhan said he
favoured a vigilance inquiry but then proceeded on leave on August 21.

• On September 13, Relief Commissioner-in-charge Shishir Sinha
forwarded the file to Chief Secretary with no comments. Chief
Secretary Subramaniam sat on the file until December 23.

• It was only after the audit wing made inquiries about the file did
Subramaniam return it. With just one noting: ''The relief commissioner
may take appropriate action.''

• On April 4, 2005, new Patna DM Sudhir Kumar wrote to MD, BSSIC
asking if the administration owed them money—Goswami had claimed
payments of Rs 43 crore were pending. Kumar also asked them what
payments have been already received by the BSSIC.

On April 7, BSSIC MD replied: ''We supplied material worth Rs
22,63,500 and received payment of Rs 13,52,221...We have not supplied
anything more. And we have not received any more money than the above
Rs 13,52,221." BSSIC also denied it had any employee by the name of B
K Singh.