Srinagar, Jul 20 (KNS): An engineer with a murky background is eyeing to take over as Managing Director (MD) of Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board and he is lobbying in the corridors of power these days for the same, sources told KNS.
They said Dileep Thusu, who was removed as Managing Director Jammu and Kashmir Project Constructions Corporation and attached over serious charges of bribe last year in November, is using his influence to occupy the post of MD Housing Board, which is lying vacant.
“Thusoo was involved in multiple frauds at the JKPCC over the years, and there are number of cases pending against him in the Crime Branch and the Vigilance Organization. Over the years, Thusu managed to occupy plum postings despite charges of serious corruption against him due to his close proximity with people in higher echelons of power. This time too he is trying to influence some officers in the Secretariat to get the plum posting in Housing Board,” sources claimed.
The ‘tainted’ engineer was attached vide Government Order No: 426-PW(R&B) of 2017 dated 9-11-2017, issued by Commissioner-Secretary R&B Department Sanjeev Verma in November 2017 which reads: “In the interest of administration, Daleep Thusu, Managing Director, Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation Ltd. is being attached in the office of Development Commissioner Works, J&K, till further orders”.
Though the attachment order had not given the reasons of his removal, it came in the backdrop of an audio clip, in which Thussu was asking a subordinate officer to collect bribe money of Rs 10 lakh for a “top man” in the Vigilance organisation. In the audio clip, which went viral on social media, Thussu is heard advising a junior official to arrange Rs 5 lakhs in Jammu with the assurance that another Rs 5 lakh would be collected in Srinagar to make it Rs 10 lakh.
Thusoo was promoted as MD JKPCC in 2008. However in 2009, Omar Abdullah regime removed him from the chair. Thusoo, was attached with the General Administration Department, for providing wrong information to the Chief Minister. He had reportedly informed a high level meeting chaired by Abdullah on July 9, 2009 that construction of auditorium of Srinagar Dental College had been completed. However, during a surprise visit to the Dental College, Abdullah found information given by Thusoo as misleading.
But after a few months, Thusoo was again rehabilitated, this time as Managing Director JK Housing Board. He was later given charge of Secretary Sports Council.
In October 2015, the then PDP-BJP coalition again reinstated Thusoo as MD JKPCC vide a cabinet order despite stiff resistance from the engineers in the Corporation.
Sources said Thusoo was promoted as General Manager in JKPCC in 2004 on "fake recruitment rules” and in 2007 was promoted as Executive Director. In 2008 he was elevated to the post of MD.
A senior official in the JKPCC on the condition of anonymity said, “Over the years the Corporation suffered crores of rupees of loses due to Thusu. He used to due brazen financial violations and some of the cases are pending against him for the last one decade. It is high time that the Governor administration takes stern action against him instead of awarding him with a plum posting.”
“We hope that Governor N N Vohra will personally intervene in prosecuting Thusu who has over the years broken the records of corruption in the JKPCC. Only then a stern message can be delivered to corrupt officers,” he added. (KNS)