Author: Imran Khan
Publication: Tehelka
Date: July 9, 2011
URL: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ne090711Frozen.asp
Catching the corrupt is clearly not enough
- as this story shows, a sensitised officialdom and accountable politicians
are needed if the poor and the marginalised are to get the benefits of schemes
carefully crafted for them. In this case, the siphoning off of Rs 50 crore
by a former chairman of the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation (KMDC)
has blocked financial loans to needy people of the minority community for
the past four years. And there seems no end to the deadlock.
When SM Krishna headed the Congress government
in the state, Mohammed Obeidulla Shariff was chairman (2004-07) of the corporation.
The Lokayukta, on a surprise visit to the corporation office, found uncashed
cheques and several office files locked up in the chairman's cabinet.
Shariff, a Congressman, also editor of the
Urdu daily Pasban, is currently the administrator of the Manikshaw Wakf Committee.
TEHELKA tried to get his version of the events but he was unavailable for
comment.
It turns out that thousands of loans were
issued to undeserving applicants under various schemes instead of the needy.
Shariff, a close confidant of Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha K Rehman
Khan, was later caught by the Lokayukta accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000 from
a person who wanted a loan to buy an autorickshaw.
For four years since, the National Minorities
Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) has frozen funds to the state.
"Not a single rupee has been disbursed so far. Because of this corruption,
deserving and needy people are being deprived of loans," says Syed Samiullah,
chairman of the Karnataka Integrated Welfare Society.
IThe NMDFC offers a term loan scheme, wherein
projects costing up to Rs 5 lakh are considered. NMDFC provides loans to the
extent of 85 percent of the project cost. The remaining cost is met by the
state corporation and the beneficiary. The rate of interest charged from beneficiaries
is 6 percent per annum on reducing balance. The national body also offers
microcredit of Rs 10,000.
"Autorickshaw drivers who used to be
given loans under this scheme have stopped getting them," says Samiullah.
"Due to this, they are now prey to private financiers and pawn brokers.
Even scholarship loans to students have been stopped.''
"All this is because of Shariff, who
has till date not even paid Rs 30 lakh rent belonging to an orphanage,'' he
adds.
Present chairman of KMDC, NB Aboobakkar says,
"Since I have taken charge, I have effected recovery of around Rs 22
crore. We also made the state government stand surety for Rs 30 crore. But
the national corporation is still not willing to part with funds.'' He says
Rs 50 crore had been promised for this year but has not materialised. There
are 10,000 pending applications.
Aboobakkar does not shy from taking a dig
at the national corporation for playing politics. "Since we are a BJP-ruled
state, they are not willing to part with the funds. It is a fate similar to
that of Gujarat, Bihar and Chandigarh." He has written to Union ministers
Veerappa Moily and Salman Khurshid and former CM Dharam Singh but there has
been no positive response.
NMDFC Chairperson Masarrat Shahid rubbishes
Aboobakkar's claims. "This is false presentation of facts. We had offered
them a one-time settlement, but they did not agree to it. There are issues
of equity shares and government warranty. It has nothing to do with being
a BJP-ruled state," says Shahid.
- Imran Khan is a Senior Correspondent with
Tehelka.com.
imran@tehelka.com
