Awards for touts and commission agents: GAD, Poonch Administration, Police, Army dodged by the vested interests multiple times for various awards; Meritorious people ignored by Poonch administration; touts honoured, Will the LG Manoj Sinha, CM Omar act?
SALIL RAINA
(POONCH TODAY NEWS)
POONCH/JAMMU: It’s a well-established fact that a large number of touts and commission agents of the Poonch administration who used to run some business houses, self-styled social workers, sports promoters and some tainted NGOs always remain eager for any type of award, whether that award is from General Administration Department(GAD) of J&K government, DGP of J&K Police, a district level, a UT level, from Army or efforts to work for Padma awards, and in this whole nexus, several officers who are holding important chairs at Important Army installations, offices of DC Poonch, ADDC, ADC, ACR or related chairs in the police setup were always seen recommending their touts who had no direct influence on the public, but with the help of some paid social media anchors, these touts project themselves as ultimate contributors to the society by ignoring the real NGOs and social workers across various fields who used to work selflessly.
All the important institutions of the government from top to bottom were dodged time and again for various awards, and the majority of touts of the administration succeeded in their hidden agenda of getting awards on fake achievement reports over the years. During Operation Sindoor, a large number of people and NGOs did a lot for the public in Poonch, but those voices were sidelined, and the top institutions from the UT level to the district level started pleasing only the yes men of administration, touts, and commission agents by ignoring the meritorious people. Not a single notification was issued by the Poonch district administration to invite the applications from meritorious people (social workers) or NGOs for various awards, and without any report from the intelligence agencies and without any in-depth investigations, only touts were picked up and recommended for various awards by the important officers of the Poonch district administration over the years, as the said touts remained experts in organising tea, awards, lunch, dinner, and bottle parties for the important officers of the administration, police, and the army. The standard and wisdom level of the important officers in the DC office, police installations, the 93rd Infantry Brigade, the 25th Infantry Division Rajouri, and other top security installations across J&K and at the national level remained under a big question mark over the years. Just on their false projections and fake and self-generated feedback related to various issues projected by touts and commission agents themselves, the top officers of the army, GAD, police, or civil administration mostly sacrificed meritorious people over the years in favour of the touts and commission agents of the administration, police, and army, as there are a number of examples of it, such as how some person known for their questionable credentials over the years managed every kind of benefit, including various awards, by dogging all three esteemed institutions of the government (civil administration, police, and the army). Even the high-profile institution of GAD of the J&K government was dodged over the years by the Poonch district administration by recommending touts out of the way for various wards. As per the proofs lying with “POONCH TODAY”, the Poonch administration over the years recommended tainted people to the J&K government for various awards in an attempt to please the touts of the administration who always had a questionable history of the past. Moreover, in a shocking display of weak Poonch administration, at the last moment before the Republic Day 2026, the administration, on the direction of a sitting cabinet minister, gave an award to the ideological friend of the sitting cabinet minister, and it shows that not the DC, but the sitting cabinet minister, was running the affairs of the Poonch administration. Moreover, certificates of appreciation were given to various departments like potatoes and tomatoes, whereas a result-orientated education department which brought laurels for the administration at the national level was ignored. It clearly shows that DC Poonch, ADC Poonch and ACR were working only to please all the departments without any merit, but the meritorious education department was ignored. In a huge embarrassment for the administration, some touts brought awards from their homes and got that in front of the huge crowd to show themselves as prominent persons of the society. This whole drama of awards has shown that the Poonch administration lacks big brains, and not DC Poonch, but the said cabinet minister and some important officers like ADC, ACR, and others were running the affairs of the Poonch administration, who were always seen on social media enjoying the company of touts of the administration in the “Red Zone” hotels, and in return, these officers used to favour them in all kinds of fraud bills and hefty commissions. This nexus is so deep that a large number of touts and commission agents are repeatedly seen in every function of the administration, police and the army with the main hidden agenda of earning money through various works and finding their names for the various awards, like the district award, DGP medal, army awards, UT award, or attempts to apply for the Padma award on fake achievement reports, and it’s a big question mark on the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Poonch, the police and the concerned army authorities. These touts and important officers of the administration are so shrewd that they used to take the services of some paid social media platforms to project the touts as ultimate contributors to the society and used to send the same fake reports to the J&K government by ignoring the real people and NGOs who always work for the welfare of the people. It shows how the offices of the Poonch administration, like DCs, ADCs and ACRs, dodged the GAD of the J&K government with wrong feedback multiple times just to please the touts of the administration over the years. The two former IAS deputy commissioners also did the same blunder by nominating their touts for various awards without inviting applications from the desirous and meritorious persons for various awards to scrutinise the real warriors. In the Poonch district administration, police and the prominent army installations, it was seen that deserving persons who carved a niche for themselves in various fields with their selfless services for the nation were never given an award or recommended for higher UT or Padma awards, but only ideological touts of the administration, police and the security installations used to get awards through backdoor management tactics. By giving awards to the undeserving people, the civil administration, policies and the army have brought the credibility of various important awards to a very low level. In the much-publicised list of prominent citizens, one can find 90% of the touts of the administration, as these touts used to encircle all the officers of the civil administration, police and the army, with the only agenda to get awards and personal benefits. This practice has been going on in all the districts of the J&K UT for years, but nobody raised this issue of utter partiality on the part of important officers of the administration, police and the army, but “POONCH TODAY” becomes the first newspaper to highlight this issue, which is highly genuine, and the J&K government needs to look into the issue from all aspects to honour the real contributor to the nation. Serving the particular community (ideology) and serving the nation are two different concepts, but shockingly, those who serve only their communities were projected as serving for the nation, which is so ridiculous. Most of the awards in the civil administration, police and the army are fully managed, and it’s a harsh reality. Some of the touts of the administration remained involved in anti-national activities, but it’s shocking that successive Deputy Commissioners, policies and army officers, in an attempt to please their touts, recommended them for various awards, as only touts and commission agents mostly remain in line for the award and not any deserving person who still believes in selfless service for the nation. The district administration, police and the army need to work on the merit rather than pleasing the anti-nationals, touts and commission agents of the administration for the district, UT, army or any important award over ignoring the real performers, who have no social media backing to project their true and selfless works. The General Administration Department of the J&K needs not to rely on the fake reports of the Poonch district administration and management tactics of the touts to impress the bureaucracy at the top level for various awards based on their self-generated achievement reports, which mostly remain far away from the truth. A high-level investigation is needed from the J&K government to find how many undeserving people were recommended for various awards by the GAD, Poonch police, the Poonch administration, the 93 Infantry Brigade, the 25th Infantry Division Rajouri and other important security installations across J&K, and on what type of feedback or achievements, because the traditional touts, tainted people and commission agents of the police, the civil administration and the army have taken everything for granted by dodging every esteemed pro-public government institution. Let the real and true warriors in different fields be recommended for various awards and not touts of the administration, and to find this, it’s the responsibility of the GAD, Poonch administration, police and top army authorities to form transparent rules for that to give an impression to the people that all the esteemed government institutions from GAD to district level (civil administration, police and the army) cannot be fooled by the touts, commission agents and anti-nationals anymore. The touts who have tasted huge success by getting various awards over the years by dodging everybody through their false claims now have shifted their eye on the highest Padma awards, police awards and army awards, and in favour of touts and commission agents, many political leaders, sitting bureaucrats and officers from important security installations are ready to recommend their names also, which would be a total mockery of the system. The sitting cabinet minister also needs not to poke his nose into the affairs of the DC office in Poonch to please his ideological supporters by going out of his way. The Deputy Commissioner Poonch, ADC, ACR Poonch and other important officers from the police and the security installations also need to behave on merit, not as a puppet of anybody, to remain in the so-called good books of the government by violating all the norms. Due to the latest episode of picking and choosing people (touts) for various awards and the interference of a sitting cabinet minister in the affairs of the local administration, the credibility of the Poonch district administration has gone down suddenly, for which DC Poonch, ADC Poonch and ACR Poonch are highly responsible. All the officers of the local administration, police and army (93 Infantry Brigade, 25th Infantry Division Rajouri to top-level UT and national security installations) must be held accountable for ignoring merit by rewarding their touts out of the way. To date, only 10% of deserving people got various awards from the J&K government, civil administration, police and the army in the Poonch-Rajouri region; the other 90% were given to undeserving people only who actually work as touts for the esteemed government and security institutions. The army and the police authorities also need to implement the same on the ground to maintain the dignity among the people, as due to the foolish awards decisions on the part of these two security institutions over the years, their credibility has also suffered to some extent. To maintain the dignity of the J&K government from top to bottom, it’s high time for the LG, Manoj Sinha, and Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, to look into the issue to set the highest benchmark for future awards throughout the J&K and let only meritorious people from different fields emerge strongly and not the touts, commission agents and tainted forces of the administration, police and the army. Will they act? Only time will tell.