By mentioning the letter written by the Mos RT&H to the Bihar govt. it has been sought to be established that the state govt. did not provide security and assistance in the project and that the murder of late S.K. Dubey was a result thereof. The factual position in this regard, as shown in the fo11owing chart, is that the state govt. took prompt action on all issues raised by the MoS, security being one of them.

The Golden Quadrilateral project has been accorded top priority by the State Govt. which has extended full support and assistance in all matters, including security. Requests for security have been entertained as far as possible. From the very beginning of the; project work, senior officers of the state administration have maintained close liaison with NHAI representatives and met with them regularly to address their problems. IG (Operations) from Bihar Police Headquarters, Zonal IG of Police, Patna, Divisional Commissioners of Patna and Gaya, Range DISG of Police Gaya and Rohtas, and the DMs and SsP of the concerned districts have reviewed the security and other requirements of the NHAI project and taken steps to ensure the fullest cooperation and support. To coordinate and facilitate the solu1ion of different problems which the executing agencies might face during the project the State Govt. has nominated one of its senior-most officers the Development Commissioner Bihar, as the: Nodal Officer and he has held coordination meetings with Chairman, NHAI, senior officers of NHAI and representatives of the various contractors. During the first such meeting in August 2003, Zonal IG Patna had apprised all present with the security arrangements made by the State Govt. and the steps taken by the police in the few stray incidents which has taken place.

As far as security is concerned, several persons engaged in the project have been provided with individual security. At some p1aces, armed security guards have been stationed at the disposal of the site manager. There is an open and standing offer to the NHAI staff and the contractors’ staff to request for more security on payment basis, as is the usual practice, whenever they feel the need. However, no such request has been received from them, which bears evidence of their satisfaction with the existing security arrangements.

The following chart would show that more than one hundred security personnel and 6 armed patrolling parties are deployed for the security of the project sites and the personnel working therein:

District	Security provided
Gaya	2+9 and 2 PSOs at Amas 2+8 and 1 PSOs at Sherghati 3 men and 2 PSO at Gaya 4 armed mobile patrolling units
Aurangabad	1 +4 at base camp near Mufassil PS
Rohtas	1 Officer & 1+4 armed party at Sasaram 1 Officer & 2+8 armed party and 1 PSO at Chenari 1 Officer & 2+8 armed party and 1 PSO at Mungrain
Kaimur (Bhabhua)	2+8 and 2 patrolling parties and 2 PSOs at Kudra (Panchgokhri) 1+4 at PCL Co. at Durgawati 25armed men (on payment basis).

Late S.K. Dubey addressed a letter to the Prime Minister of India which was received in the PM's office on 11th November 2002.Though the letter was unsigned, it clearly mentioned that the particulars of the author were enclosed and the enclosure clearly gave out late S.K. Dubey's name. In this letter, already published in the Indian Express dated 6th December 2003, late S. K. Dubey had stated that he is writing "after careful thought by a very concerned citizen of the country who, is also very c1osely linked with the project. I request you to kindly go through my brief particulars (attached on a separate sheet to ensure secrecy)".

The highlights of his letter to the Prime Minister of India were as follows:

Salient points of the letter of Late S.K. Dubey to the Prime Minister of India

• The Detailed Project Report prepared by the design consultant is not up to the mark, hence the completed work is not satisfactory. NHAI accepts the DPR without proper scrutiny and such reports are like garbage.
  
• The procedure for selecting contractors is not correct and bigger contractors are taking undue advantage of the lacunae. The bidders project wrong figures based on forged documents and NHAI becomes a party by overlooking these. Confidential documents are made available to the contractors and proper verification is not carried out.
  
• The advance given by NHAI to selected contractors is done with undue haste and work is not started even after payment of 50% advance. Relaxation in Customs duty is given by NHAI to these contractors who import equipment meant for other projects.
  
• The process of selecting consultants for the supervision of the work is also erroneous, and such consultants are chosen not on merit but on other considerations without proper verification.
  
• Big contractors obtain the contracts at exorbitant rates and rather than doing the work themselves, distribute it to petty contractors. The work done by such contractors is of inferior quality and despite knowledge of the same, no action is taken by NHAI.
  
• There is no system in NHAI and the organization only has individuals. There is an urgent need to review and restructure the office procedure including the filing system which is extremely poor.

This letter was sent in a routine manner to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highway and from there to the NHAI, the very organization whose ills late S. K. Dubey wanted to expose. To make matters worse, even the enclosed paper containing his identity was sent to the NHAI in utter and callous disregard of Late S. K. Dubey's fervent plea to keep his identity confidential.

In his subsequent letter late S. K. Dubey said that "due care has not been taken to maintain the secrecy of my identity and even the separate sheet containing my identity has been forwarded to the concerned authorities. As a result, my identity has been leaked and most of the officers in NHAI (my present organization) and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (my parent organization) and even outside people associated with the profession know that the representation was made by me… Sir, you would appreciate that this disclosure has exposed me to undesirable pressures and threats."

IMPORTANT FACTS REGARDING PERSONAL SECURITY OF LATE S.K.DUBEY

• None of the letters addressed by MoS RT&H to the Bihar Govt. made any mention of any threat to the personal security of late S. K. Dubey although the ministry as well as the NHAI were in receipt of the letters of late S. K. Dubey who has specifically mentioned that he apprehended danger to his person after the leakage of the confidential letters written by him.
  
• In periodical meetings held with the NHAI authorities and contractors at various levels, no mention was ever made by them of any threat to the personal security of late S. K. Dubey.
  
• No request was ever made to the state Police for providing personal security to late S. K. Dubey, either by late S. K. Dubey himself or by his organization.
  
• Late S. K. Dubey was a close acquaintance and IIT batchmate of the SP Gaya Sri Sanjay Singh and used to meet him regularly, He never informed the SP Gaya about any threat or insecurity, nor did he ever ask for any security.
  
• None of the letters of late S. K. Dubey to the Prime Minister or to his organization, i.e. NHAI, mentions any dissatisfaction with the law & order situation or that it was hampering his work in any way.
  

On receipt of the letter of late S. K. Dubey, the NHAI, instead of launching positive and substantial action on the vital issues raised by late S. K. Dubey in his letter, chose instead to issue him a reprimand for having brought the facts to the notice of the Prime Minister's office. This was an obvious attempt to throttle the voice of an honest and upright officer who was only trying to correct the ills and stem the rot in his organization.

The murder of late S. K. Dubey is not related to the law & order condition in the state of Bihar, but appears to have been occasioned by the disclosure of his identity as the author of the letter which exposed the rampant malpractices and loot in the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and the National Highways Authority of India. In this context, it is relevant that when late S. K. Dubey addressed his letter to the NHAI and the Prime Minister's office, he was posted in the territory of Jharkhand state.

Immediately after the ghastly incident, the state Govt. of Bihar, of its own accord, referred the case to the CBI for investigation vide Govt. of Bihar Home (Police) department Notification No.11812 dated 8th December 2003.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and the National Highways Authority of India are trying to distort the facts relating to the tragic murder of late S.K. Dubey with the sole purpose of covering up the ills and malaise rampant in the organization, and the fact that, late S. K. Dubey was exposed to "threats and pressures" due to their callous disregard of his request to keep his identity confidential.