Rs 1,000-crore tale of Noida engineer Yadav Singh

I was nearly disowned by my family for not attempting the engineering aptitude test, the holy grail of our education system. Only those who couldn’t become engineers took up other careers, that was the prevailing belief. The lust to study in an engineering college has led to an industry called coaching classes/study circles, and small towns like Kotah have arrived on the national scene as IITian factories. That is the power of engineering, the engine that drives Indian pupils. The rest are mere bogies, if not plain bogus.

So, when Yadav Singh was raided and revealed to be a billionaire, my faith in engineering took a little beating. If you are a good engineer, you are expected to know the basics of financial engineering. My faith was restored when the news came out that he wasn’t even an engineer. But he has betrayed the bureaucracy, our governance system, which our dear Constitution has lumped us with. Our forefathers gave us a perfect system where an overseer could become the chief engineer of three authorities at the same time, if he knew how to grease up the right nuts and bolts.

Yadav Singh is an overseer, euphemistically called junior engineer, who quickly rose up the ranks to beat bona fide engineers to become the chief engineer of Noida Authority. He had powers to sanction tenders worth thousands of crores, and dutifully pocketed hundreds of crores in the process. When income-tax officers raided his house, they were surprised to find that the man wasn’t as efficient as a high-profile officer is required to be.

He had stashed about Rs ten crores in his Audi. About two kilos of diamond-studded gold was also found in the car. Papers suggesting that he owned over 250 plots in Noida were in his cupboards, and his wife ran a couple of companies that won’t stand the scrutiny. The man obviously was adequately skilled in making money, but highly unskilled in hiding it. Obvious from the fact that he chose to build a palatial house, smack in the heart of Noida. The failure to hide his unaccounted wealth puts a question mark on the utility and the quality of junior engineers in the country.

One must cut him some slack here, though. Yadav Singh was neither Yadav nor Singh but came from a poor Jatav Dalit family in Agra. People born with silver spoons, raised in old, black money know how to gulp down millions without letting out as much of a belch. People of caste and class privileges have long looted the country, but rarely get caught because they can have resources to show the sources of their wealth. Yadav Singh had no such privilege. This lack of family wealth has cost Shibu Soren, Mayawati, Madhu Koda and to some extent Lalu Yadav a lot. Because they came from the humblest of backgrounds. A molehill of opulence looks like Mountain Blooming Everest in their case, while people float in the Pacific Ocean of corruption peacefully because income-tax officials see only the tip of the black iceberg.

I have no sympathy for people like Yadav Singh, who are a blot on even the corrupt. Indian politicians and bureaucrats invest in Australia, Europe and the US while driving around in rickety Ambassadors here. This man chose to enjoy the air-suspension of a Q7 right here. He had politicians dancing to his tune. Mayawati gave him the Dalit advantage when she made him the chief engineer of Noida. We do not know what he gave Mayawati in return.

Akhilesh arrived on the scene, and Yadav was duly suspended. He obviously did good things in suspension, because when it was revoked, he returned as the chief engineer of not just Noida, but also of Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities. We may never know what all he gave in return. But if the buzz is to be believed, a lot of people in high offices have benefited from his allotments.

Yadav Singh has not been arrested. If he is, be sure that there will be a lengthy enquiry into his doings, and when the dirt reaches the doors of the presiding deities, Singh will be relieved. The case will die a silent death. Because, it’s not only about Yadav Singh, it’s about the system we have nurtured and nourished for decades. Our little cute and corrupt establishment is not going to kill itself over Yadav Singh. It will protect him and if the push comes to shove, sacrifice him.

Disclaimer: The Rs 1,000 crore is just speculation as appeared in newspapers. So is his engineering degree. He later acquired a degree from an evening course. The actual amount he has made may vary in future. That’s if the truth ever comes out.