Social activist Swami Agnivesh is in a soup again. The Delhi government sent him a showcause notice on a survey done by his NGO in year 2005. The Delhi government released an amount of `18 lakhs to Bandhua Mukti Morcha (BMM), the NGO of Swami Agnivesh, for a survey of bonded labours in Delhi. The RTI replies shows that Swami Agnivesh’s NGO used forged bills to get the cash and it also raises suspicion on the authenticity of the survey. Copies of the RTI are with this newspaper.
The Delhi government, in year 2005, chose Swami Agnivesh’s NGO BMM for the survey without signing any bond or MoU. The government paid the bills of `18 lakhs. However, no action was taken on the basis of the survey report.
The RTI replies reveals that divisional commissioner’s office of Shamnath Marg said that the survey was conducted from BMM through the 27 SDM offices in Delhi but, at the same time, the office of the SDM Seemapuri, Chanakyapuri, DC office New Delhi, SDM Modeltown, Shastri Nagar and Saraswati Vihar denied having any knowledge about such survey by the BMM.
When asked about the irregularities in the survey the divisional commissioner’s office, coordination branch, said in the RTI reply, “No MoU is available as per records. Since the report is not available, no comments can be offered. The amount was released from the divisional commissioner’s office.”
The government confessed that the survey was almost worthless.
“The survey was conducted in all nine districts and 27 SDM areas. A payment of `18 lakh has been made. The survey says that 90 per cent of the labours in Delhi are bonded labours. No name of any employer was mentioned in the reports so there is no question of taking action against any one,” the RTI reply from the divisional commissioner office said.
However, the government officials remained tight lipped when asked about how the survey was given to the BMM without any MoU or bond.
When this newspaper contacted Swami Agniwesh, his secretary Ashok responded the call saying that Swami Agniwesh is busy in a meeting and he will respond later. However, after repeated calls he didn’t responded.