Gaft law and ravenous vultures

The graft law implies asset growth of corrupt is inversely proportional to that of the government bodies.

In the last five years, the net worth of one of the sons of H D Deve Gowda went up from some Rs. 10 crore to Rs.500 crore.

A petition admitted in the Lokayukta court said H D Balakrishne Gowda, eldest son of the former prime minister, had amassed wealth disproportionate to known sources of income. When he took VRS as a KAS officer, in 2005, his monthly earnings did not cross Rs.75000. Then how could he become so rich by 2010? Rs.500 crore is just an approximate figure and the petitioner has said it could even be more. The Lokayukta police are probing. Let us wait for the result.

When Balakrishne Gowda took VRS to take charge of the family administration, his younger brother H D Kumarsaswmy took charge of the state administration as the chief minister. The Gowda family prospered under the big brother’s stewardship; each member’s wealth grew to touch the sky. Only NICE man Ashok Kheny knows what the total worth of the family is. Even Deve Gowda can’t tell.

And how did the state fare under the statesmanship of the small brother? Here is a sample. The BBMP attained bankruptcy, in the period. Its reserves that were at Rs. 500 crore, in 2005, came down to nil at the beginning of the current fiscal year.

With its coffers were empty the BBMP delayed its budget presentation by three months and it had to borrow heavily to foot salary bill. Forget about the pending payments for the finished works, there is no money to take up the new projects. Hence you are riding on bumpy roads full of pot holes. The council officially passed a resolution to stall some 1700 works citing shortage of funds.

The BBMP’s budget for last year was ambitious. The estimated size went up from previous year’s Rs.4246 to Rs.8488.54 crore, but it was revised to Rs. 3856 crore at the end. While they could not even reach half of the estimated targets, the abysmal figures were only achieved after market borrowings. The assured amount of Rs.1500 crore as special grant from the state government did not come. The bankruptcy of the BBMP is piggybacking on that of the state.

This year, with a projected outlay of Rs. 9,196 crore, the budget is carrying forward an opening balance of Rs.85.25 crore. Can you find a magician to turn it around? Is there any trickster who can do a work worth Rs.9, 196 crore with Rs. 85.25 crore on hand?

The state government could not extend financial assistance to the BBMP because the finance department did not approve it because there were no funds in the government. After Kumaraswamy took over the chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa took charge of the finance department and he continued as the finance minister till he had to step down as the chief minister facing graft charges, last month. And his good friends Katta Subramanya Naidu and R Ashok were the in-charge of BBMP. Do you want any more reason to explain the bankruptcy?

The change the Karnataka witnessed after it became the gateway for the BJP rule in South India is this: The party that could not even feed lemon rice to its polling agents has grown into a money bag that can spend Rs. 1000 crore to win an assembly polls. A party worker toiled hard to grow from a rice mill accountant to the level of opposition leader could amass such a wealth, after becoming the chief minister that he could build his own republic in Shimoga. And two obnoxious weeds, who divided the city with equal shares to rule it as in-charge ministers, grew into ravenous vultures devouring BBMP and any thing that looked like asset.

One vulture is in jail now, while the other is still at large to guttle the carcass of the dead BBMP.