I don’t normally post forwarded mails on this blog, possibly because the moment i see a multiple forward sign or lots of e-mail ids i tend to delete the message. But, this one is from an old, old friend. And it had neither multiple forwards nor multiple e-mail id’s attached to it. I don’t know if this is really a retired colnel. I don’t even know if it is a real name – yet there is something about this letter that rings true. Maybe it is the loss of illusions and idealism ….
The method of Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scamsters of Mumbai was disarmingly simple. They simply co-opted in their scam whoever looked like standing in the way. If we judge the strategy by its results, it was spectacularly successful. It indeed disarmed everybody. From just 30 odd members, the eventual group grew to more than a hundred. Each new entrant
not only removed a roadblock on the way but also increased the size of the cake.
Thus, someone got the land title, someone the extra FSI. Someone got clearances, someone else made the Army and the Navy objections softer. They all became members.
The scary bit about the scam is not that it happened. It is that in the entire chain, there was not one man (or woman) who refused to compromise himself (or herself). There was not one person whose integrity stood its ground in face of temptation. Right from the lowly collector, to the officials in urban development department and the MMRDA, to the ministers and chief minister, everybody proved over-eager to do his bit. About the bureaucrats and the ministers, we always knew. The really sickening part is that it went on all the way to at least three service chiefs.
They all sold their souls. No whistle-blower in the entire system. Nobody thought something very gross was under way and he/she should put his/her foot down.
And for what? A sea-facing apartment in Mumbai, worth perhaps Rs 8 crore. So there, folks, you have the price of this country. For a combined booty of no more than Rs 800 crore, you could buy the entire system. Our enemies reading about this can now rest their weapons. The message they get is that if they face the mighty Indian Army they only need to wave the allotment letters of a plush apartment.
And lo! The battle is won. If the chiefs go for 1000 sq ft of Mumbai real estate, how much should the poor battlefield commander go for? A Shanghai penthouse, or a cottage in Murree?
I would hate to be a soldier in our armed forces at this moment. The fellow has just seen Lt Generals being prosecuted for land scam. Now, an admiral and two generals are part of a housing scam. He is expected to die on their orders.
If, after this, a soldier winces at such an order, can he be faulted? The former chiefs have now graciously offered to return the flats, professing ignorance about the fact that the land was meant for martyrs’ families. As if that is the only thing wrong about the deal. It was stinking from start to finish and if the chiefs could not smell any of it, the forces have a lot to answer for the kind of persons they select for their top most posts.
No, gentlemen, you have let down the proud institutions you headed. You have let down your colleagues who must suffer the suspicions you have aroused. You have let down your country that decorated you so much. Worst of all, you have let down that soldier who saluted you day in and day out. You owe him an apology, not just a glib explanation. About others, the less said the better. They occupy some of the most plum posts and yet possess all the integrity of a pickpocket.
It is no wonder India has climbed further in corruption ladder. Merely dispossessing these scamsters of their ill-gotten apartment would be no punishment. They need to be dismissed from service and prosecuted for being unworthy custodians of our trust…… a firing squad perhaps?With Warm Regards,
Col AK Ghosh,
Pune
This morning in his Press Conference, the Prime Minister Promised, on the Corrupt:
“you have my assurance that the wrong doers won’t escape punishment . (pause) this time “
I hope he delivers
Then, they must be further charged with incompetence if they are not aware of the felicitation of the country’s heroes.
it is quiet surprizing that seemingly educated pple like u seem to be have formed an opinion just based on media reportings. 2moro if media calls all pple reading newspapers are blind and illiterate…i guess you will beleive them. pklease don’t prove to be shame on human intelligance by not using the brains to read todays media reports cautiously. ma be we all r wrong and we r biased by media and the members of that housing society are after all correct. if we notice no media player has given their side of story in detail. so friends to maintain ur sanity….refrain from forming opinions based on media reports
Last thing I knew, India was still a free country, with freedom to think and say what is our understanding. I don’t understand what you are trying to say with the SMS essay, but I think its fair enough to trust multiple media sources. The facts are damning. The people had the flats that were not meant for them. How can the media fudge this?
I would appreciate it if you had or didn’t have your own opinion rather than tell me what to think or say.
HOW CAN U BELIEVE SO BLINDLY ON WHAT IS SAID ON TV! U REALLY NEED TO WAKE UP!Is hamam mein sub nange hein and it is most apt for the media! its not what is truth that is reported , but what sells is reported. till the time pple like urself, maybe, who plan to beleive on whatever crap media feeds u with exist….we will be sklaves to media in this democracy! the facts are not damning…but perceptions have become reality and truth is nowhere to be seen. not only for this case but for most of the “PAID SCAMS” if u try to find the facts… they are by media for their lobbys and greedy pockets!
yes 🙁
Have u heard of PAID NEWS…RADIA TAPES…or is it a possibility that u cud not get to know about it as media was successfull in supressing it fully.
We are engaged with the corruption from so many days and there are no solutions coming out of it. The power structure and form of governance is quite slef serving in the nature.
Gargi Madam, don’t you think that highly educated ones are not thinkers but only holders of power, not its critics ? It seems odd that we are educated and trained to become leaders but never told about the defects of power and the authority.
the only defects seem to be greed – and that is not a function of eduction but values …
“For a combined booty of no more than Rs 800 crore, you could buy the entire system. ”
Frighteningly true.
frightening too …
nicely written
Yesterday PM has delivered nothing but a pregnant non fulfilling promise whose miscarriage is certain
This is symptomatic of how the system works in India. We cannot wish it clean because the culture accommodates the saying — if you can’t beat them, join them.
Corruption is deep rooted in every level of the systems that run the nation, the governance and the society. To clean it up is going to be like cleaning a staircase. And, to sweep clean a staircase, you have to start from the top and not from the bottom. If you clean only the lowest pedestal, dirt from the top would invariably soil it again in no time.
This is a catch-22 situation. The prime minister’s assurances notwithstanding, the question remains who would clean the PMO itself?
You can’t exorcize the ghosts of corruption in the system by the same mustard seeds where the ghosts themselves reside. This is Mission Near-impossible.
From the discussion above it seems none of u are knwing the truth. My soninlaw wrking in one of the courts in bombay tells me that there r a few things which media has never been shwing to the public…’coz as per him it puts them to shame for blowing up a matter wthout any verification and based on incorrect partial info:-
1) the MMRDA under the current leader that is the present CM, has gvn an affidavit in the court that all permissions granted were after chking all legalities and they are fullly legal….whch only DNA and I think IE too has published just once and not shown anywhere on TV, and not played over and over as the sensational stuff the TV pple created.
2) Min of Defense has stated in the affidavit gvn to court that the land is not owned by them as per records but they would want to own it now….this also has never been published/shown with the same passion as the false claim was .
That means the two issues of illegal building and the land belonging to army are now resolved. But apparantly media has decided not to tell it to the nation!!!reasons!??
3) more over he tells me that court has seen that the building was conceived much before the Kargil happened and was never meant for ONLY kargil. The society was initially meant for army pple only all including those who were involved in the latest war…but the wrong that happened was gettng babus in to it…!But media gained all sensation by using Kargil to its benefit, but apparently is not coming out with the wrong it has commited in using Kargil to sensationalize a issue when there was no such fact existing!
These are facts but never published by media…and as per his statement…babu’s shldnot hv been in this!
Mil baatke khana to is desh ka kulture hai na
isnt it the part of the ruling partys sloganeering ? inclusiveness ? i see it in evey congress slogan .. take eveyone along … this time the maharashtra wing just done it !
well everyone these days are salable .. no big deal .didnt the radia tapes prove just that.. there was a time when most men in the forces worked for the honor , now things have changed , they have joined the politicians. it reminds me of a saying stated in the polyester prince
“Indeed, so deep is Balus political influence that it is being said that the draft budget papers were not leaked to Balu. Balu leaked the budget to the ministry.”
In any case this email shows that people still care .
i feel sorry for the fighting man in the armed forces. as the letter points out where is the moral authrity to command troops to battle and to die … there needs to be a serious clean out …
http://praveen-kumar.net/adarsh-scam/important-issues/
Dear All,
An Article written by the members of affected Army officers’ families bringing out some hard facts of the Media hyped and consequently much maligned Adarsh Society Case of Mumbai for your information. You may like to forward the same to all your acquaintances both from service and civil fraternity to spread the truth and awareness of the case realities and the kind of damage that ” Trial By Media” has done to the officers and their families .
Thanks and regards.
ADARSH SCA(M)PE GOATS – WE FROM THE ARMY
This is not an effort to garner public sympathy but simply a means to highlight certain facts that we, as the families of the victimized (so called accused) Army personnel, feel have been overlooked /ignored in the wake of the controversy involving the Adarsh Society in Mumbai.
Television media channels, in their quest to be one up on another, have almost crucified all of the Army officers (who are members of the housing society) without ascertaining hard facts pertaining to the case.
A brief look at certain facts and figures behind Adarsh:
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) filed an affidavit in Bombay High Court just recently on 24th Jan 2011, admitting that it does not have any record of the plot (where Adarsh stands) or its title. Therefore, the plot in question is not Defence land. Besides, both the ex-CM and the present Chief Minister have said on the floor of the House that the land belongs to the State Govt. As per its Affidavit, the MoD intends initiating action now to take over the land (fact appeared also in Hindustan Times, Mumbai Edition on 06th Feb 2011). Great initiative and afterthought indeed!! What about the damage already done to the reputation of the concerned officers in particular and the Army in general?
The MOD Affidavit also admits that in 1964 the Maharashtra State Govt., through a letter by its Collector, had informed the Defence Estates Officer of Mumbai and Gujarat circles that “it would not transfer land from Block VI Backbay Reclamation to the Defence” (fact also reported by Hindustan Times, Mumbai Edition on 06 Feb 2011).
Essentially, there is documentary proof stating that the land in question is not Defence land.
Considering that some of the Defence officers are being accused of “falsely indicating that Adarsh Society land is not Defence land”, where does the case stand against them today?
To make matters even clearer, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) also filed an affidavit in the Mumbai High Court sometime in January 2011 stating that the construction of the 31 storey Adarsh Society tower was legal, even with a higher FSI owing to the special Development Control Regulations (DCR) applicable to the Backbay Reclamation area. Not just Adarsh, but even other buildings in the area could use FSI as high as 3.5. But Adarsh has used only 1.32!! The rest of the South Mumbai is allowed an FSI of 1.33.
In its affidavit, the MMRDA has also justified the issuance of OC (Occupancy Certificate) on the grounds that it did not find any flouting of rules. It has also stated that it found nothing wrong with clearance and permission for Adarsh Society (reported by Mumbai Mirror of 03 Feb 11 and DNA Mumbai of 03 Feb 11)
A number of supporting documents such as copies of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) related clearances given to the Adarsh Society were also attached to the MMRDA’s affidavit. It is pertinent to note that new CM of Maharashtra Mr. Prithivraj Chauhan, who assured justice in the case, is also the current Chairman of MMRDA.
The bogey of security upto 1000 mtrs from sensitive Defence installations raised by the MoD has also been burst by its own admission in its Affidavit, wherein it has stated that it has now ordered a board of officers (as recently as January 2011) to initiate procedures for declaring the much maligned Adarsh land under the Works of Defence Act of 1903!!! We wonder if it will ever come through in retrospect, because then Tata’s Taj Hotel and host of other high-rise buildings which directly overlook the entire Naval Base including movement of all warships in and out of it, and the residence of the Flag-Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, would have to be evacuated we suppose!!
Incidentally, Adarsh Society’s building is nowhere near the Naval Base and is, in fact, echeloned in depth, overlooking distribution of rations from the Naval and Army Supply Depots. Grave security threat indeed!!!
A few questions which beg answers by various organizations now vehemently objecting to Adarsh’s construction…
•?????????Why didn’t they raise any objections when the society had published a Public Notice for commencement of construction and had invited objections if any, in the local newspapers Free Press and Navshakti on 19 Oct 2005?
•?????????Why didn’t successive FOC-in-Cs of Western Naval Command raise any security concerns since 2005, when the construction commenced?
?•?????????Why hasn’t the Navy objected to all the tall/ high-rise buildings around the Naval Base including Taj Hotel where the 26/11 attacks took place?
•?????????Why hasn’t the Navy taken action all these years to remove thousands of slums right next to their Navy Nagar complex, or even those next to their Helicopter base in Colaba, which all the VIPs both of Civil and Defence frequent?
•?????????Why hasn’t the Navy objected to civilians residing/owning flats in ‘Oyster’ and ‘Dolphin’ high-rise residential complexes in the heart of Navy Area right next to INHS Asvini, and directly overlooking the movement of every warship that moves in and out of the Naval Base? Incidentally, these high-rise buildings were also private housing societies for service officers mostly from the Navy
•?????????Why hasn’t the MoEF objected to the construction of the building for five whole years, when they would have seen it coming up on any number of occasions during this period?
•?????????Is it wrong to apply for a flat in a Govt approved/ registered/ private society for which the members have paid for the land (which belongs to the State Govt), besides shelling out their hard earned money for construction costs, and when the membership of each member has been duly approved by the Govt?
•?????????Is there any loss to the exchequer/ public money as alleged in other cases?
•?????????Why this sudden and malicious assault on Adarsh Society? Is it part of bigger diversionary strategy from other pressing problems? We wonder!!!
•
On 18 Feb 2011, Bombay High Court said that in the CRZ matter, order passed by Shri Jairam Ramesh is defective.(Hindustan Times,19 Feb 2011). Would some sections of the Media, who went overboard with their caustic and damaging criticism for the last couple of months, now kindly step forward to highlight these ground realities as well, or do they have a right and the power only to carry out a ‘trial by media’ and pass their judgement even before the Court of Law does so.
We, as families of the officers in the thick of the controversy, believe that we have been caught in the crossfire between Politics and Media.
Unfortunately for us, our own organization (for whom our husbands / fathers dedicated their lives and even received highest of decorations for their exemplary service to the nation) has not bothered to stand up for the truth fearing a media backlash, truth notwithstanding.
The Armed forces take pride in their spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood. We intend to fight for our dignity through our justice system as also make an appeal/ humble request to the Print and Electronic media not to sensationalise the issue, but to bring out the truth and to redeem our honour which has been wrongfully maligned.
A call for justice from members
of affected families.