Chief minister Nitish Kumar goes through public complaints at the janata darbar in Bettiah on Friday. Picture by AK Tiwary

Bettiah, Nov. 11: Precisely at 11.11 in the morning, Nitish Kumar chose to crack down, not on 11, but on a dozen officers facing corruption allegations and gave the sanction for their prosecution.

Nitish, who admitted he was a believer in numerology, ordered action against the 12, among them a former district magistrate, at 11.11am as he said the time and date was right for a good deed.

The time though didn’t prove to be auspicious for the dozen, who were not even aware that they were under the scanner of the vigilance department and investigating agencies at the district level.

The officials to undergo prosecution are former Araria district magistrate Amarendra Narayan Sinha, executive engineer (rural works department) Satya Narayan Prasad, former block development officer of Kochadham, Noor Ahmad Shibli, former BDO (Sikti) Parvezullah, project officer (animal husbandry department) Jaikumar Prasad, animal husbandry department doctors B.K. Sinha, Satish Prasad and Ritambhari Devi, principal, government school, Tirki Ramjee Singh, lecturers Meenakshi Sinha and Vishwanath Paswan and Rasbihari Singh, assistant engineer, building construction.

The chief minister, who is on a Seva Yatra to review his government’s functioning at the grassroots level, took the action at a janata darbar organised at the Maharaja Stadium in Bettiah, the headquarters of West Champaran district.

Known to be a stickler for rules, the chief minister sanctioned prosecution only after procuring all details of the charges against the officials.

While the former Araria district magistrate was said to be involved in misappropriation of funds for the Indira Awas Yojana, most of the other officials facing prosecution were allegedly involved in various cases of corruption. The government has already confiscated the property of a secretary-rank officer S.S. Verma in Patna and started a school for Dalit students in the building. The officials slapped with prosecution sanction too are likely to meet a similar fate, sources said. “They will be prosecuted under the special court act which empowers the government to confiscate the property of the officials undergoing prosecution,” said an official.

SHOCK AND AWE

For the past three days, Nitish kept officials on their toes by moving around in settlements and government offices — the itinerary known only to him and his close coterie. His visit to a Dalit slum in Jagannathpur of Gopalpur block was a case in point.

As he entered in the settlement, he lobbed a question to the crowd: How much foodgrain do you get on each red card? Answer: 22 kilogram.

How much money do you pay? Rs 160.

How much foodgrain do you get on antyodaya card? 32kg. On how much money? Rs 100.

“See, the dealers are giving less foodgrain and taking more money. Am I right?” he asked the officials.

Soon, the dealer was summoned.

Nervous, he came wobbling. The chief minister asked: “Dealer sahib, paisa kitna lete hain or anaj kitna dete hain (how much money do you take and how much food grain you give to the BPL card-holders)?”

Dealer: 35 kilogram against a payment of Rs 94.

CM: “The beneficiaries sitting with you are giving a different version.”

The dealer looked frightened. Nitish tells him: “Dariya mat, bataiye jyade paise mein kam anaj kyon dete hain..sach sach (Don’t fear. Tell truthfully why you give less against more money). The dealer muttered, “Sir, commission bandha hota hai…Godam se anaj bhi pura nahin milta (The commission is fixed..we don’t get sufficient foodgrain from the godown.”

Nitish to the food secretary: “Secretary sahib..dekhiye mamle ko (Please look into the matter).”

The officials confabulated. “He (CM) has an investigating mind also. It is hard to escape his attention,” muttered one of them under his breath.

Nitish then stands near a hut which is home to a Dalit family. “Yeh ghar kyon nahin bana (why has the house not been built),” he asks. Again the mukhiya, BDO, vikas mitra (development friend) — all are questioned.

Nitish’s shock therapy seems to be working.