Who doesn’t want a government job in life? Many fathers in India are keen to find a man for their princess daughter, a charming prince with a government job. However, getting a government job in India is not that easy after all. One has to get through various written examination which is not that easy to clean in one shot. Although some extra-intelligent species of humans can make it. But even after clearing a government exam, you still have to make your abilities and skill counts like personal aptitude, technical knowledge, communication skills. A person who can clear all these hurdles can enjoy the luxury (as hyped by the Indians) of getting a government job.
Well, the current youth has to face all these hurdles because we are living in a modern India which is aimed at globalizing its industrial and administrative policies. However, situations have been different in the post-independence India till the dawn of the 20th century. Corruption, red tapping and coercion were some of the simple and prominent methods back then to get things done.
But what makes this government job such a desired profession in the country. Its because the government employees receive a lot of benefits. With the job security for the long term and receiving attractive salary is one of the most basic luxuries of becoming a government employee. Further, those who enjoy a level high post than others may receive additional perquisites like home allowances, uniform allowances, servant allowances, conveyance allowances. Some high range officers are even allotted a nice and beautiful government quarter houses along with full-time drivers for the sedan class cars. Preference in getting benefits from the other departments of government like free or subsidized education for children paid medical & hospital bills and much more are amongst one of the many attraction that drives India crazy about government jobs.
People in India would do anything from hard work to corruption for getting one such job. But what would they do to get three such jobs? I mean like literally, when getting single, government job yields you so many benefits and asks for lots of hard work, struggle and other tactics, what would it take and give to have three government jobs.
The answer lies in the story of this man who has been holding three government jobs, for almost 30 years and the biggest catch is, he has been doing all the three of these jobs simultaneously. Shocking right? Unlike a normal case, where one has to resign from their previous job to take part in a new one, this guy managed all three job, at once and went unnoticed for 30 years, while enjoying the salary and other perquisites from all the three of them.
The story of the Con-Man
As per a report by DNA, Suresh Ram, a man from the state of Bihar has been able to hold three government jobs simultaneously. This man worked as an Assistant Engineer in three government agencies viz Office of Building Construction of Kishanganj, the Department of Water Resources in Banka district’s Belhar block and Bhim Nagar East Embankment of Supaul.
The roots of this 30-year-long scam go back in the year 1988 when this guy started his job in 1988. His first government job was as a Junior Engineer in Patna’s Building Construction department. With his continuing service in the department, he got another letter from the Water Resources Department in 1989.
Instead of telling about it to the head or employer, Ram continued to hold both the positions and somehow managed both the offices. Later in that year, he received another appointment letter from his 3rd employer department and yet again he did the same. Not only this, he even received due promotions from time to time in all the three jobs. It is still unclear as to how he managed to hold the three full-time jobs at the same time because he has been in hiding since his scam came to exposure
The Exposure
The scam of this man came to light when the government implemented the Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS). Last month, the system got information about Suresh Ram, being a government employee, has been working in three jobs, simultaneously.
The government of Bihar has introduced CFMS in 2018 in all of its departments. The system has been implemented to bring transparency to financial management. The system maintains the unified database of all the financial activities by various departments of the state government. The system manages the financial decisions and proceeds of the government through internet service.
Since payment of salary etc is also a financial activity; database of employees was also created as a part of the online transformation of the system. Details like Aadhaar number, date of birth, PAN number, and other basic information were input in the system to create employee profiles. It was during this process only, it came to the notice that this guy has been working with and receiving a salary from three of the government departments. On further research, it was exposed that he has been doing so since last 30 years.
In a conversation with DNA, Madhusudan Kumar Karna, executive engineer of Kishanganj Building Construction department said: “On 22 July, the Deputy Secretary asked Ram to bring all his papers to the irrigation department but he didn’t show up,”.
As further told by him, an FIR has been lodged against Ram in Kishanganj police station. He has been missing since the incident.
Well, this proves the power of technology. A person who has been doping the system since years was caught in a single click with the help of the modern data management system. It was only one case but shows that sign that there might be more such cases in the country where people are enjoying perks from multiple sources. A guy, who was working as three people, was already consuming the income source for two potentially skilled people. On one end, government consoles people of the nation who cry upon the non-availability of jobs. And on the other end, their departments are corrupted and forged in an unidentifiable manner.
The question that raised is why was Suresh Ram not asked to render the Leave Employment Certificate officially attested from his previous employer department, while he was joining the new jobs. And if he managed to get duplicate ones, then who helped him to do so. How, a single man managed to be at 3 offices in a 24 hour day, where every job had almost similar office timings. And how did he went unnoticed for so many years? Well, the one thing that is to be blamed is the poor on-field management and administration and the one thing to be credited for exposing him is the technology.
The government needs to understand the severity of this case and attend the need to implement a similar system in every single department to catch other con-men, if any and avoid chances of such incidents in future
