With poor planning, Surankote Municipality officials have turned the town into a garbage dumping site; Massive financial frauds remained a constant practice

With poor planning, Surankote Municipality officials have turned the town into a garbage dumping site; Massive financial frauds remained a constant practice

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: Facing charges of corruption and poor planning, the municipality officials of Surankote have turned the town into a garbage dumping site. Under Swachhta and other schemes, huge sums of money have been withdrawn by the tainted officials during the last few years, but on the ground, nothing concrete has been done. Huge compromises have taken place in various developmental works in various wards of the Surankote town with the hand-in-glove acts of municipality officials.

The entire system of the local bodies department has become defunct, as alone in Poonch city, the poor planning from Poonch municipality officials also turned the city into a jungle. If the state of affairs of the Poonch municipality is at the mercy of God, then expecting something extraordinary in Surankote municipality would be a waste of time for the people. Locals of Surankote, while talking to “POONCH TODAY,” said that massive loot has taken place in the Surankote municipality over the years as the concerned officials grabbed the opportunity with folded hands. Under various government schemes, the concerned officials withdrew huge sums of money, and on paper, they showed proper development, which is far away from the truth. In the main market, maximum encroachments have taken place openly, but the municipal authorities of Surankote never dared to take action against the law violators. The common man of Surankote feels uneasy while passing through different areas of the town. Hundreds of illegal constructions have taken place on nallahs with the involvement of municipality officials, which is again a big concern in the town. A number of UEED works were shown as work done by the municipality; as a result, a huge blow was given to the government exchequer with fraudulent paperwork. At maximum places, constructions have been carried out without any site plan, and it raised a big question mark on the top officials of Surankote Municipality, who have converted the public institution into a money-making unit by taking hefty benefits from different government schemes and from illegal favors. The silence of the Poonch administration on the horrible state of affairs in the Surankote and Poonch municipalities has shown that, from top to bottom, the system is in the wrong hands. People of Surankote have demanded a high-level inquiry from the government against tainted officials of the Poonch and Surankote municipalities who have misused their official positions and indulged in several wrongdoings with malafide intentions. Despite fully knowing the horrible state of affairs in Poonch and Surankote municipalities, the Commissioner/Secretary and Director Local Bodies have maintained a questionable silence. Will the J&K government take cognizance of this brazen misuse of official position by municipality officials in the Poonch district?