Mangaluru: Four days after Sasikanth Senthil resigned as deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, speaking of his unhappiness with “fundamental building blocks of democracy being compromised” in the country today, he has come under fire from two organisations that claim he is not the Mr Clean he is reputed to be.
The Dakshina Kannada Truck Owners' Federation and Joint Action Committee of Sand Contractors, Sand Boat Owners, Labourers and Construction Material Transporting Truck Owners have accused Mr Senthil of merely posing as an honest officer while misusing his office to award tenders illegally.
“A firm, T4U Service Pvt Ltd, was awarded a tender for installing GPS sets in sand transporting trucks in Dakshina Kannada although it was blacklisted after a committee in Udupi found its data unreliable, and in preference over another firm, which had given a lower bid. Interestingly, the work order for this was issued by the then deputy commissioner, Sasikanth Senthil on the letter head of the mines and geology department. This is a clear case of misuse of power,” charged Mr B S Chandru, legal advisor to the organisations.
He alleged that Mr Senthil's 'Sand Bazaar App' was unauthorised as he did not have government permission to start it. “He told the High Court that dredging upstream of the Thumbe vented dam was intended to remove silt, but in reality sand was being extracted and being supplied through the app," he claimed, adding that the organisations had not spoken up before because they were afraid of being targeted by the former deputy commissioner.
“They did not want to anger him when he was in office. But now they have decided to speak up and are ready for any investigation into their charges,” he added. Responding to the allegations, Mr Senthil rubbished them but refused to say anything more other than that he had worked hard against illegal sand mining in the district as deputy commissioner.
