Former IAS officer and whistleblower Ashok Kumar Parmar has written to Jammu Kashmir’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), demanding action against former Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta and three retired Jal Shakti engineers over alleged irregularities in the Rs 6,000-crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam.
Parmar, who previously served as Principal Secretary of the Jal Shakti Department, as per a Wire report, alleged that Mehta bypassed required approvals and facilitated large-scale procurement of substandard pipes, causing delays and massive financial loss.
“There is credible evidence that points to criminal conspiracy and misuse of public office,” Parmar wrote in his letter, citing a recent court ruling.
The former bureaucrat accuses Mehta of misleading both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs. “This was not just administrative oversight. It was deliberate mismanagement,” Parmar told reporters.
Among those named are retired engineers Manesh Bhat, Humesh Manchanda, and Basharat Jeelani Kawoosa. Manchanda, Parmar claims, placed pipe orders worth over Rs 4,000 crore despite prior inquiries and an FIR against him.
Kawoosa is alleged to have extended contracts without fresh tenders, while Bhat was reportedly used as a “scapegoat.”
Parmar further alleged the use of recycled rubber in HDPE pipes, which have since cracked or failed. “The contractors themselves raised concerns, but the procurement continued,” he wrote.
He claims he was transferred on the same day he proposed cancelling an irregular pipe order worth Rs 582.5 crore.
The ACB has not responded publicly to the plea. A House Committee, formed in March and chaired by Justice Hasnain Masoodi, is also set to investigate the scam.
Parmar says the case is about accountability: “If a scheme meant to provide clean drinking water to every home can be hijacked like this, who will protect the people’s interest?”
- News Deskhttps://thekashmiriyat.co.uk/author/kashmiriyat/
- News Deskhttps://thekashmiriyat.co.uk/author/kashmiriyat/
- News Deskhttps://thekashmiriyat.co.uk/author/kashmiriyat/
- News Deskhttps://thekashmiriyat.co.uk/author/kashmiriyat/
