Tamil Nadu Ministers : Kaun Banega 'Crorepati'

“Good governance is the sine qua non of effective administration. Corruption is the biggest hindrance to achieving the goal of good governance. As District Heads, Collectors have the onerous task of cleaning up the system and improving service delivery.” This was Jayalalitha’s speech on the inauguration of Collector’s conference in Chennai in the presence of her Cabinet Ministers.

But Jayalalitha's desire to run a corruption free government is all set to remain as a pipe dream...if whispers doing rounds in bureaucratic circles to be believed. Amma's instructions seems to have fallen on deaf ears...

Make a quick buck in a jiffy...    That’s the buzzword among the Ministers in Jayalalitha’s cabinet.   Many ministers claim that they enjoy the active support of ‘Chinnamma’ and are on a collection spree say sources in Fort St George.

Agri SS Krishnamoorthy is considered as the ‘numero uno’ among the band of bandits if the buzzword in IAS circles are to be believed. Agri Krishnamoorthy who claims to be close to ‘Chinnamma’ is the most feared upon by the officialdom.

Agri SS.Krishnamoorthy

Krishnamoorthy acts in close liaison with Anuradha, who is in charge of Jaya TV. Also a self styled ‘Joint Managing Director’ – Jana and Vice President (Administration) in Jaya TV act as point person in getting deals done. Sources say the duo are on a whirlwind tour to meet all the powerful industrialists in Chennai and other places.  

Their modus operandi is to meet the industrialists and demand amounts ranging from 2 crores to 10 crores under the guise of securing advertisements for Jaya TV.  They are promised with advertisements in group channels for concessional rates.  The industrial honchos who fail to budge would invariably invite a ‘surprise raid’ by the officials of the Commercial Tax department, which falls under the control of Agri Krishnamoorthy.

K.T.Pachamal, who is the Minister for forests is also doing everything to please Chinnamma.     Pachamal is reported to be abusing officials by calling them names.  He is reportedly to be boasting of his closeness with Chinnamma and other power centers...sources say his name tops the list of ministers who will be axed in the next Cabinet reshuffle.

  
V.Moorthy, who is popularly called as ‘Madhavaram Moorthy’  who was made a Minister for dairy development recently, had instructed his officials to find ways and means to make a quick buck. He claims he is close to Ravanan - another power center in the AIADMK regime. 

Ministers B.V.Ramana, Seetha Chellapandian, N.Subramani are not being giving respect to senior IAS officers and are calling them names, say Secretariat sources.   In most of the Ministers’ chambers close relatives of the Ministers occupy the room and instruct the Secretaries and other officials, who are senior IAS officers to wait outside, till the minister comes.

Senior IAS officers fume about the humiliation that they suffer on a daily basis by the Ministers and their relatives.  Insiders say officials also lament about the lack of knowledge or attitude to learn by the Ministers who only concentrate in making a quick buck.

Recently, IAS officers are perplexed with a new request of the Ministers.  Eager to make a ‘quick buck’  the Ministers insist that senior officials in their respective department are transferred out to far off places, so that they come and crawl before them with ‘handsome gifts’ to cancel their transfers.  Officials who are aware of the resentment such mass transfer would cause, are baffled with this strange request. 

The frequent transfer of officers and the frequent cabinet reshuffle also has taken its toll on the administration.  Apprehending transfers officers are reluctant to take any proactive action which has put spokes in the wheels of Jayalilatha's administration say sources in Fort St George.

In fact the bureaucrats who are privy to the collection spree of Ministers had a muffled laugh when Jayalalitha asked them to weed out corruption.