IAS officer gets rap for exposing poor governance
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COMMENTS 
Maharashtra senior IAS officer Uttam Khobragade will have to do some explaining regarding statements he made to the media about the poor state of affairs at schools run by the Tribal Welfare Department
A recent study conducted by its own Tribal Welfare Department found that the Maharashtra government-run ‘ashram shalas’ (resident schools for tribal children) were non-functional in spite of expenditure to the tune of nearly Rs 350 crore every year.
Uttam Khobragade, a senior IAS officer and principal secretary (tribal development), on August 31, disclosed the findings of this study to the media in Nagpur and remarked that the government-aided ashram schools should be closed down immediately as they lacked even basic amenities for students.
Earlier, Khobragade had sent letters to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan about the poor state of affairs at the Tribal Welfare Department and sought their permission to clean up the department.
On September 1, Chief Minister Chavan asked Chief Secretary J P Dange to find out if Khobragade had violated the disciplinary rules for the IAS by publicly speaking about the mess in the government. Government sources in Mumbai said both Chavan and Dange were irked with Khobragade.
“The letter is forwarded to Principal Secretary (General Administration Department) K P Bakshi who has been asked to check whether it violated any service rules. The administrative officers are not supposed to discuss such matters publicly instead of raising it in internal platforms within the government,” said an official.
Revealing details of the study, Khobragade had pointed out a number of gross irregularities to the media including supply of sub-standard food and inadequate accommodation at the ashram schools.
“The ashram schools do not have the number of students to match the figures presented to government; they lack basic amenities like classrooms, books and washroom facilities. The number of teachers shown in the records does not match the head count; children and hostel inmates are fed sub-standard meals; and boys and girls are dumped in small rooms beyond their capacity,” he said.
Khobragade said about 530 such ashram schools were being funded by the state government and were receiving a whopping Rs 340 crore per year as grant-in-aid. Describing the situation as horrible, he said the washrooms for girls had no roof or cover in some places, and that the tribal children appeared malnourished and worse than street children.
Alleging that some of these schools were being run by politicians, the IAS officer alleged that their management was clearly violating the children’s human rights.
Source: The Hindustan Times, September 2, 2010
Press Trust of India, September 1, 2010