Hemant Soren’s zero tolerance of corruption in government offices

PE recommended against suspended engineer in chief of RCD

Ranchi, August 21: Chief Minister Hemant Soren has directed to register a preliminary enquiry  (PE) against Ras Bihari Singh, the suspended engineer chief of the Road Construction Department. The Chief Minister has also directed to submit the report of the investigation at the earliest.

Significantly, a report of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jharkhand Police, 199 percent more assets were found in the possession of suspended engineer chief of road construction department, Ras Bihari Singh. In the month of June, the matter of sending orders from the Cabinet Secretariat and Monitoring Department to the ACB to register the PE had come to the fore. In the same episode, the Chief Minister has directed to register the PE on Sunday. Now there will be a proper investigation against the suspended engineer chief.

Since assuming the post of Chief Minister, Hemant Soren has taken many important decisions against corruption showing zero tolerance to corrupt practices in bureaucracy.

Some of the important decisions against corruption are in the case of disproportionate assets against Anil Kumar Singh, the then Circle Officer of Hehal, Ranchi, and the Chief Minister’s permission to register an FIR.

In the FIR registered in the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Palamu police station, against the accused Manoj Kumar working as assistant in the District Welfare Office and Subhash Kumar, the District Welfare Officer, under Section 7 (A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (Amendment Act, 2018). The direction was given to prosecute. The matter is related to the corruption in the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Minorities and Backward Classes Department.

The CM gave approval of surveillance inquiry against Arvind Kumar the then chairman of Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Arvind Kumar, member of Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission and Gaurav Budhia, the proprietor of M/s Bihar Foundry and Casting Limited.

Significantly, a complaint had been lodged against Ras Bihari Singh in 2017. It was alleged that his expenditure is 199 percent excess to the known source of his income. The ACB had sought permission to conduct an inquiry against him.

In January 2020 he was suspended by the government for the misuse of public money. He was accused of helping a construction company to get a contract worth Rs 51.62 core. It is alleged that an amount of Rs 7.65 Crore was paid to that company as the mobilization amount.

Notably, after Hemant Soren became the chief minister, he formed a committee to review tenders and contracts of the previous regime in some of the important departments of the state government.