Issue detailed notification for Padma Bridge fund collection
From what has been reported in the press, it appears that a number of ministries have jumped on the bandwagon of collecting money from salaries of officials. It is precisely for this reason that the government must issue an official notification on the subject in question, for without clear cut mechanisms, over enthusiastic bureaucrats will engage in this sort of unauthorized fund collection, which are obviously being done to ingratiate the prime minister, rather than out of a genuine concern for bridge building. We are at a loss as to how they are planning to take a cut out of employee salaries, especially in light of the fact that the finance minister in an earlier statement had categorically stated that no one has been assigned to collect such funds. The proposals vary widely from ministry to ministry, but such activity is tantamount to extortion at government level.
Thanks to contradictory statements coming out from the top tiers of the government, there is much confusion about who will contribute what. To think that it has been suggested that employees will 'donate' anywhere between one day's salary or a festival bonus, and that too will be made mandatory for all is preposterous. While there is no lack of patriotic feeling in the country, the question here is why people are being forced to cough up donations where it ought to be voluntary. The bigger question here is who will ensure the transparency of such collection.
Hence, prior to government instructions being issued, we are not in support of such overenthusiastic voluntary drives to coerce involuntary donations. The government has instructed banks to open accounts. Here too we believe that the government must issue an overarching set of guidelines on the voluntary financial contributions of the people for the proposed bridge construction. Official notification, when it comes, must have appropriate measures outlined for the proper monitoring, auditing and accounting of what is largely, public money being generated for the mega project in question. Without clear cut checks and balances to oversee the handling of large-scale public funds, the question of misappropriation cannot be ruled out.
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