Uttarakhand: Dehradun Municipal Corporation councilors embezzled 60 crores, revealed through RTI, pockets filled in the name of people of Bijnor Saharanpur
Another new scam has come to light in Dehradun Municipal Corporation. Corporation councilors, in connivance with officers, have misused funds worth more than Rs 60 crore under the guise of Mohalla Sanitation Committees. 1021 environment friends have been deployed in 100 wards of the corporation. Most of these have been found to be fake. RTI activist advocate Vikesh Negi has made this disclosure. According to Advocate Vikesh Negi, there are many irregularities in the environment friends deployed by the councilors. He said that there should be a high level investigation into this entire matter.
Advocate Vikesh Negi asked for the new list of Mohalla Sanitation Committee-2019 from the Municipal Corporation through RTI. In this list obtained from RTI, 1021 employees have been deployed by councilors in all 100 wards. These employees get Rs 500 per day. According to the information, this amount is distributed to these employees through the councilor. There is doubt regarding the names and addresses of many employees posted in almost every ward in the list. The addresses of a large number of employees are not recorded in the list provided through RTI.
The Municipal Corporation has 100 wards. Councilors have deployed at least five employees in each ward. Whereas 20 employees were also kept in one ward. Apart from this, 16-16 sanitation workers were appointed in five wards. The sanitation workers also include Godiyal, Naithani, Sharma, Gehlot, Rawat, Chauhan, Gupta. There are more than 15 people named Shubham. Their whereabouts are unknown. There are two Shubhams in one ward and their address is shown as 3 and 4 Salawala, Hathibarkala. According to Advocate Negi, every environment friend is given Rs 500 per day. This amount goes into the account of the ward councilor and the councilor himself pays it to the environment friend.
People deployed in Bijnor, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar
There are many shocking facts in the list received from RTI. If four-five wards are left aside, dubious employees have been deployed in almost all the wards. The full names and addresses of many environmental friends are not even known. Apart from Rishikesh, Udham Singh Nagar, Roorkee, many councilors have also included employees from Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Azamgarh of Uttar Pradesh in their team. It is noteworthy that when physical verification of these employees was done on the orders of Municipal Corporation Administrator Sonika, most of the employees were found missing.
Questions raised regarding financial permission
Advocate Vikesh Negi said that this money goes directly from the corporation to the councilor’s account. He questioned how financial permission was given to such an arrangement? This is completely against natural law. Salaries should be paid directly to the employees working as per the rules and not through the councilors. He said that an average of 10 environment friends have been deployed from one ward. On this basis, on an average a councilor received Rs 1 lakh every month. On this basis, in the last five years, approximately Rs 60 crore was spent in the name of Mohalla Improvement Committees. Due to this, questions are being raised on the working style of the corporation. According to Advocate Vikesh Singh Negi, this entire matter should be investigated at a high level and along with recovery, legal action should also be taken against the councilors involved in financial irregularities.
