Srinivas, a technical coordinator implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) had to pay a very huge price for his honesty. He refused to sign some fake bills because of his honesty. The angry contractors tried all the possible ways to get the inflated bills passed, but when they saw Srinivas is not going to let it happen, they chopped off his right hand with a machete. The honest Srinivas who works as a technical consultant engineer for the NREGA scheme, has lost his hand in the line of duty.
Srinivas was appointed to Kunigal Taluk in Tumkur district. The local people in the district know him as a very strict and honest officer. While working he discovered some illegalities in the NREGA scheme, and when he tried to raise his voice against the corruption, he paid the heavy price.
The angry contractors didn’t completely chopped off his hand. HR Srinivas, 53 years old, is currently admitted and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Basaveshwaranagar. When TOI visited him on Wednesday, the first thing he did when saw the journalists and media persons was he pointed to his hand and said:
“This is what we get for being honest and doing our duty. Doctors have bandaged the hand as a first measure and are exploring the possibility of reconstructing it.”
His hand was not completely severed. The doctors are operating on him and hope to reconstruct his hand back to normal.
Srinivas’s job was to give technical sanctions to works undertaken, and to check measurements. He’s the head of a team of five engineers, it’s his findings which determines how much the contractors are paid, based on the quality of the work they have done.
It all started when Srinivas along with Kunigal taluk panchayat officer Narasimhaiah, visited recharge pits (which allows the rainwater to replenish groundwater by recharging the underground aquifers) between Bagenahalli and CH Palya. Srinivas inspected the work and said:
“We found that the contractors had exaggerated the measurements of works executed. The official estimate for each pit was Rs 69,000.We decided to reduce the amount to Rs 42,000 per pit as they did not conform to the prescribed standards. That angered contractors Keshava and Manjunath.”
Keshava charged into the taluk office and warned Srinivas if he reduced the amount. Srinivas told him that they did a very bad work, used cheap quality construction materials and they don’t deserve the estimated amount.
Keshava threatened him and said:
“I’ll chop your hand if you sign the modified bill.” Undeterred, Srinivas and his senior decided to go by the rulebook.”
They attacked Srinivas when he was on his way back to his home, Srinivas narrated the entire incident:
“After finishing work, I was riding back to Magadi from Kunigal, about 20 km away , on my two-wheeler when Keshava and Manjunath followed me on a bike. At Thalakere, one of them pulled out a machete and swung it at me. They missed. As I slowed down, they slashed my right hand.Before they could strike again, I took a U-turn and sped away till I reached a tea stall. When I stopped, I realized my hand had been chopped and I was soaked in blood. The people at the tea stall called an ambulance and shifted me to a hospital in Magadi and then to Bengaluru.”
A complaint has been lodged in the Kudur police station. The local police said the two contractors escaped, but a search is on.