Acquired Deficiency Syndrome

 

 

Delhpa is a typical highway village in West Uttar Pradesh’s Jyotiba Phule Nagar, 44 km off Moradabad. The village is a picture of bustling activity and relative prosperity, as they do in this part of the state. On the road leading to the village inside a school compound, 50 odd people talk in nervous anticipation, sitting in a circular arrangement of chairs. The few, who look more important than the rest, sit separately and pompously. A beetel-chewing man instructs the congregation through various hand manoeuvres - like a master conducting a philharmonic.

Meet the latest entrants to the anti-AIDS cause. The congregation has gathered here for `social work’, or more specifically, to get a job in an anti-AIDS programme that is being run by Delhi-based Trust American Expressway. Some, who are already employed in the programme, have also come to lodge complaints and fire questions. And they have a large number of questions to ask.

The activities of the trust have found a large number of takers among the unemployed able-bodied men of Moradabad, Bijnaur, Budaun, Saharanpur, Meerut, Jyotba Phule Nagar, Joya and Rampur. They are also among the thousands of people in other states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Kerala and Uttarakhand, who once placed their trust on the organisation, but are now lamenting, having burnt their fingers.

Meet Rajendra Raj, an unemployed post-graduate. He was entrapped by the lucrative offerings of the Trust and submitted a demand draft of Rs 20,000 for the post of a so-called divisional coordinator (DVC). Raj thought his life was made, good money and a social commitment to boot. Six months since he got the appointment letter, Raj has received a tiny cheque of Rs 1,000 as `salary’ for all his efforts. Raj confesses to TSI. “I have lost all the faith. The trust charged a hefty sum, but so far has paid only a cheque Rs 1000. This is a cruel joke.’’ Unfortunately, there are thousands like Raj who have similar stories to tell.

The story is repeated right through the west UP districts. Young men are informed by the word of mouth, mostly the local grapevine, of this anti-AIDS programme, of comfortable salary levels and ultimately, the chance of visiting the big apple, USA, for refresher courses. Also, there are strong rumours of this Trust being funded by the World Bank, even though it is difficult to identify the sources of this information.

The Trust American Expressway was established in December 2005, in south Delhi’s posh residential colony, Hauz Khas. TSI has documents which say that Santosh Kumar Sharma and his wife Ratna Sharma are founders of the Trust. The organisation claims to work for “poverty alleviation, women empowerment and literacy”.

However, AIDS awareness is its core competence. The Trust charges substantial amount of money for recruitment. For the higher post of DVC and district co-ordinator (DC), the charges range from anything between Rs. 10,000 and 20,000. The primary job of these appointees is to conduct field surveys and lead awareness campaigns about AIDS.

The game begins after they deposit the demand draft (DD) with the Trust. Thereafter, they may get one or two cheques of Rs 1,000 each and later, even that is dropped. In many cases that have now come to light, no appointment letters were issued. Infact, the Trust puts great emphasis on being as vague about its antecedents as possible. Appointment letters are issued, but there is no serial number or proper dates given. Invariably, the job responsibilties mentioned in the letter have nothing to do with the actual functions, as the appointees realise much later.

When the duped victims approach higher authorities in the Trust, their complaints fall on deaf ears. “We are pressurised to add more people in the chain. Though this is not mentioned in our job responsibilities. Our work seems to be only adding as many people as we can. There seems to be no cap on the number of people that need to be recruited,” laments Arjun Singh, another DVC. The logic is simple: if every person recruits five to six people, the chain continues to multiply merrily. In Bijnaur district for instance, more than 2,500 people were recruited as primary workers; in Jyotiba Phule Nagar around 900; Moradabad 400 and in Rampur more than 100 people have been `employed’ after having forked out fat sums of money.

The money-making racket is nicely cushioned. Many application forms of potential AIDS activists are rejected – without returning the money or assigning any reason. Titu Singh, DC from Bijnaur told TSI that the “the application forms are thoroughly checked by us. They arbitrarily reject a large number of applications. However, they do not return the amount taken. This is unfair.”

In fact, it is now doubtful whether the Trust has anything to do with social work or AIDS at all. Victim Arjun Singh rues mournfully: “The trust has hardly anything to do with social work and AIDS. It just wants to add as many people as it can and we are under huge pressure from the higher echelons of the Trust to collect money. In addition, there are no written agreements or documents.’’

On June 20 this year, a group of victims in Badayun filed a complaint before the then District Magistrate (DM), C Senthil Pandian, that an organisation calling itself ‘American Expressway’ at Indira Chowk in the city, was interviewing youths for jobs after accepting fat demand drafts. The DM took cognizance and ordered an inquiry. While the inquiry continues, preliminary findings suggest that the franchise was being run by Narendra Singh who quickly closed the recruitment office as news spread and decamped. Where did he disappear? According to insiders, only the location has changed. Narendra Singh now operates secretly from Jyotiba Phule Nagar, TSI is informed. When contacted, investigating officer, S S Mishra, admitted there is a prima facie case of fraud and defalcation, but declined to comment further, saying their investigations were at a primary stage.

When asked about these incidents, Ratna Sharma, founder of the Trust American Expressway, tried to duck the questions by passing the buck on to their local officers. Says Ratna Sharma: “There are black sheep in every organisation. We have taken suitable action against the errant officers and have terminated 15 people in this connection.’’

Sharma claims that the Trust had duly informed concerned district officials, like the DM, Superintendent of Police and Chief Medical Officers.

However, when the TSI made enquiries in districts like Moradabad, Budaun and Saharanpur, officials said they had no knowledge about the trust. N.K. Gupta, CMO, Moradabad, told the TSI that he had no knowledge about the organisation in question.

The fraud has led to tensions. In Jamui district of Bihar, some lower level staff in the Trust assaulted a higher-ranked official to get back their money. The police have arrested three people in this regard. But if the numbers flocking at the Delpha village is any indication, the army of gullible continues to add up everyday. Ratna Sharma

Founder

American Express Way

Ratna Sharma, Founder American Express Way tells TSI that their funding comes from secret money and that everything is above board. Excerpts: Why do take money from people for the job?

We take money for training. Many people do not take their job seriously. This is to weed out non-serious people from us.

Many people who work for your organisation have not got their salaries. What is the reason?

We admit that is a problem there. This is a technical problem and that is why we have not been able to provide their remunerations. In some cases the performance of the people is not up to the mark. The one big problem is that these people do not complain to us.

Your office in Budaun was forced to close down when the administration became active. Your officials fled after taking money and leaving people in the lurch. What action did you take?

There are problems in Moradabad and Budaun area. Unfortunately, our own people there were corrupt. They were entitled to recruit people there. As far as Budaun is concerned, we do not have much idea. Narendra Singh, incharge of the franchise, kept us completely in the dark and he has cheated people there. I have issued warning letters to these people.

Three of your people were also arrested in Jamui district of Bihar?

It is true but our people were falsely implicated. A local police officer was pressurising us for some wrong things. When we declined he arrested our officer.

What is the source of funding for the trust?

It is through secret funding by the people. Out funding is all above board and there is no hanky panky.