The Congress on Monday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ashok Parmar’s corruption allegations in the ‘Jal Jeevan Yojana’ in Jammu and Kashmir and said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government was punishing the officer who exposed the ₹13,000 crore scam.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said what emerged was a “serious” matter against Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and accused Union minister of jal shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of punishing the whistleblower and protecting the named officials involved in the corruption charges.

“Jammu Kashmir is not holding polls anymore and the central government has got its complete grasp on it. And LG Manoj Sinha who is always in the news for some reason, sometimes takes Rs. 25 lakh loan but what has emerged now is even more serious. A case of corruption worth ₹13,000 crore has come to light under ‘Jal Jeevan Yojana’ in Jammu and Kashmir. When an IAS officer named Ashok Parmar exposed this embezzlement, he was transferred 4-5 times a year and insulted by the LG. At the same time, Ashok Parmar, the corrupt officers whose names he takes, are being given promotions,” Khera said.

“Modi government is punishing the IAS officer who exposed the ₹13,000 crore scam, but who is the big fish in this whole scandal? Despite complaints to the Home Ministry and demand for a CBI inquiry, why were orders for investigation not given into the irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission? Dalit IAS officer, who also tells his problems to the National Scheduled Caste Commission, but why has LG Manoj Sinha not been summoned till date? The Modi government made false allegations against Ashok Parmar that he wanted to become the head of the contract committee, but there is no written evidence for this. Why do you have the habit of ‘rebuking a thief in police custody’?” Khera added.

He said the ‘needle of suspicion’ fell on Union minister Shekhawat, saying that he was the one who punished a ‘whistleblower’ and protected the named officials involved in corruption charges.

Taking a jibe at LG Sinha, he said, “So now you can understand why the headline management is being done. I am sure he does not make so many calls to his wife as much as he does to Hiren Joshi (officer on special duty for communication and information technology at the Prime Minister’s Office).

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP to Khera’s charges.

In his complaint to Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on July 18, which HT has seen, Parmar had alleged that the chief engineer of the Jal Shakti department, Kashmir division had floated tenders to supply centrifugally cast (or spun) ductile iron pipes for ₹690 crore, based on an existing contract under a non-JJM scheme. The tender was floated in January 2022 and the orders were placed after a gap of six months in June 2022 under non-JJM specification.

In another complaint to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), Parmar alleged that J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta had harassed, intimidated and threatened him, due to their prejudice and bias against him for being a Scheduled Caste IAS officer. He feared that he may be implicated in false cases, as he had pointed out many financial irregularities and acts of omission and commission in the implementation of JJM in the Union Territory.

The JJM scheme aims to provide potable drinking water in taps to all rural homes by 2024. The scheme has a ₹14,000 crore budget for J&K; the pipe component accounts for about ₹3,000 crore.