Scam Buster

Do you agree that scams have hampered India´s infrastructure growth? When CW raised this question through a poll in the August 2015 issue, we received a 100 per cent ´Yes!´ Indeed, the country, with its big dreams and massive projects, sees a bitter reality - of the scams not just prevailing, but growing year-by-year. And, amid this, Anjali Damania, social activist and politician, had first raised an alarm about a dam over the Balganga river in Raigad district, hinting at a scam. In December 2014, Maharashtra´s State Anti-Corruption Bureau had ordered an open inquiry in the case, after a complaint was filed by Damania, which found irregularities of Rs 926,342,110 in the project implemented by the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation. Damania continued providing detailed material to the bureau, and finally, the bureau recently filed an FIR against a top irrigation contractor, his employees and officials of the irrigation department in awarding of a contract for the construction. This is without a doubt, a huge sense of achievement for Damania, and the battle she has been fighting for is finally bearing fruit. But this not her first: During 2011-12, she also exposed corruption in the Kondhane dam project through RTI queries. She has never been afraid to raise inquiries against the wrong. No less than a godmother for the country, hopefully India will begin to move towards being ´scamless´ soon.