PANJIM: Candolim Citizens Forum has accused Bardez Mamlatdar of issuing ration cards without receiving documents that have to be mandatorily submitted and asked for cancellation of these bogus cards. As is the common practice by the Government servants of Goa, the Bardez Mamlatdar who is not excluded from this scheme of “give bribe and get your work done” has misused his position to issue illegal ration cards specially to non Goans by taking bribes.
The forum has also accused him of making a mockery of Right to Information Act. The case has its origins in an application filed by one John Baptist Sequeira, who asked that the mamlatdar furnish a list of deletion certificates, based on which he had issued ration cards to adults who had newly settled in the village.
“In many cases Bardez mamlatdar was unable to furnish deletion certificates and reason cited was that they are ‘not available due to prior renewal of ration card,’” Tukaram Naik of Candolim Citizens Forum narrated.
“Documents given by the Mamlatdar show that in certain cases, he replies saying that ration cards were issued prior to renewal of ration cards. The applicant had clearly asked for issue of deletion certificates based on which he had issued the ration cards. Here the question of renewal does not arise,” Naik said.
“It appears that some Public Information Officers are making a mockery of the RTI Act,” Naik said. “We assume that Bardez mamlatdar has issued ration cards without following mandated procedure or without taking deletion certificates hence we demand these bogus ration cards should be immediately cancelled,” Naik said.
The case has larger demographic implications with civil society groups alleging that this is done at the behest of ministers due to which mamlatdars are expediting the process of issuing ration cards by either bending or even breaking rules.
For an adult citizen to obtain a ration card, he has to prove that his name has been deleted from the ration card where it was previously registered in order that he/she does not misuse government schemes and also as a means to check illegal immigration into the country.
The callousness, with which the registering officers are dealing with the issue, could result in serious national security threat.
In Goa it is very difficult to get any legal documents that rightfully belong to you at a given time. But it is very easy to obtain illegal documents for a given price. Fraud and corruption is a contagious disease which entered Goa after the Indian Invasion.
ReplyDeleteIn Goa everything has it's price. In MMC, there was the CO Tawade who could change your house ownership to anyone's name without documents. Some cases pending about these matters. In Electricity Department, there is Junior Engineer Santosh Loliencar who could make his own decisions bypassing the law for the sake of his own pockets. Goa is the capital of corruption in India because Kamat government itself is a lame instrument.
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