Official brazenly demands bribe from Dalit BJP MLA in Yogi’s UP

“Yadi paisa nahi dena hai to jahan chaye shikayat kar do” (If you do not want to pay bribe lodge complaint wherever you wish). This was the threat given to a Dalit BJP law maker in Saharanpur where an official in Panchayati Raj department asked for bribe to get a project cleared.

The aghast BJP MLA from Rampur Maniharan constituency Dhirendra Nim has lodged a written complaint with Panchayati Raj minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, saying that the official has been asking for money to carry out development work in his constituency.

The law maker said in his complaint that Alok Gaur, Assistant Engineer in Saharanpur Zila panchayat asked for bribe, and when he confronted him the official said he was forced to take bribe because he needs to pay commission to seniors.

“Yeh paisa nehi dena hai to jahan chahe wahan shikayat kar dijiye. Mujhe upar tak paisa dena hai … main kahan se launga (If you do not want to pay bribe lodge complaint wherever you wish … I need to pass on the money to the top … from where I will get that money), the law maker wrote in his complaint quoting the official.

Gaur is charged with asking for a bribe of ₹50,000 to carry out development work in Dalit-dominated area in Saharanpur. There are complaints that many development works have been stalled in Saharanpur because officials are asking for bribe.

This letter of the BJP MLA has exposed the Yogi Government’s claim of honest government. “If the officer is telling me that cuts are shared with senior officials, it speaks volumes about prevailing corruption. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should look into what is happening,” said Nim to this reporter.

There are allegations that corruption is rampant in the government. When media, including National Herald, exposed as how inferior quality of shoes and bags were supplied to school children, the state government acted fast and got these replaced. Interestingly, no enquiry has been ordered in that purchase.

A senior minister and backward leader Om Prakash Rajbhar too had blamed Yogi for his failure to control corruption. Rajbhar, who is President of BJP ally Suheldev Bahujan Samaj Party, is on record in saying that corruption in thanas and tehsil has gone up 10 times in the BJP regime.

“The police used to to ask for a bribe of ₹50 during Akhilesh Raj and now they are asking for ₹500 as bribe,” Rajbhar had said.