Dehradun : Hill Post recently wrote about the rampant corruption and inertia in the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), as far as its working is concerned. It has now come to light that the Authority cares two figs of the directions of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, so where do lesser mortals, the ‘aam aadmi’, figure in its agenda.
According to reports the Monitoring Committee had given directions to the MDDA that about 70 wedding points in the city that have come up in violations of various rules be sealed, but despite the time having lapsed, nothing has been done in this direction. Not even one of the defaulting wedding points has been sealed.
In fact the incident has also brought to fore the fact that politicians of repute in the city, rather than assisting and working for its development and all round improvement, actually are a hurdle in this direction. Following the directions of the Monitoring Committee for sealing the wedding points, the politicians became active and a decision was taken by the cabinet that the sealing be stopped till May 31.
Though as a face saving device, the cabinet had categorically stated that the faults in the wedding points be rectified till the time the grace period was given. In fact it was mentioned that the grace period was being given so that the wedding points can remove the anomalies and do not cause difficulty to the people for holding weddings and other functions.
But May 31 has come and gone, and no wedding point has removed the existing faults because of which it had been ordered that they be sealed. But the MDDA, as it is its wont, has decided to adopt an ostrich syndrome and forget about the directions of the Monitoring Committee and begin the process of sealing the wedding points after the deadline.
The plea that is being taken is that notices will be issued afresh to the defaulters and action taken only after the process of issuing notices is complete. The Authority officials preferred to remain tight-lipped when told that the defaulters had already been issues with notices and as they had not been withdrawn there is no need for re-issuing the notices.
But then the Authority likes to work the way it finds it convenient for itself, so that the defaulters can get away without being punished and the officers do not have to take action against them.
Meanwhile a spokesman of the Monitoring Authority said that it will be meeting in July and hopefully by then the Authority will have taken action against the defaulting wedding points. If they do not, the Committee will inform the centre and state governments of the lapse in not fulfilling the directions.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
