The news that corruption in Nagaland has percolated down to its very marrow no more raises eyebrows, but the brazenness in the method employed to siphon off over Rs. 100 crores of pension money from the Zunheboto treasury takes the cake. One hundred crores is no loose change, and here we are talking about an amount which on proper investigation might even be touching the two hundred crore figure.
The involvement, and thereby, the arrest of the Senior Treasury Officer and Sub-Treasury Officer of the Treasuries & Accounts department, Zunheboto district, is a red flag in itself, and therefore should not be just the means to an end. The risk that they had easily taken can only be due to the existence of the perceived guarantee of a safety net. The real investigation must bring to light this safety net because of which officers and clerks and peons alike are becoming all the more brazen by the day.
A scam of such proportion from a government department of a district can only be possible if there is a network of colluding individuals in the various levels. The two arrested treasury officials, in all probability, constitute just the middle tier in the scam. The investigation must expose the entire network involved, and their modus operandi made known to the general public. People are not concerned about whether the SIT formed to investigate the scam is made up of a member, a three member, or a hundred member team as long as the truth in all its nakedness and entirety is revealed. To cure this disease of unhindered corruption from Nagaland, the perpetrators, however high or mighty one may be, needs to be exposed, booked, and held accountable. There should be no two ways about it.
There are times when corruption becomes almost incurable. The State of Laos once established an Economic Police Force for the sole purpose of investigating economic offences and corruption. But soon its members began demanding a cut from the very people they were supposed to investigate. Nagaland cannot afford to become that Laos. Someone once had said, “As humans we all die, but unless we come out about this, we’re all going to hell.”
The pension scam along with the fuel adulteration racket are two burning issues which will directly reflect the moral and sincerity of the government in its avowed pledge to safeguard and give the people, rule of law. Yes, the acid test. In the fuel adulteration racket, all thanks to ACAUT, much of the investigative work has been done and exposed. Now, the government must do justice in a very transparent and time-bound manner by bringing those accountable to book, and plugging up the many holes, which, in the first place, allowed the racket to flourish for so very long.
The acid test for the government is at hand. Let us hope that the blue litmus paper turns to red.
Benito Z.Swu
