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Journalism of Courage
PUNE, May 26: A special vigilance squad of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has detected several anomalies in the functioning of various civic departments and pointed out cases which caused a revenue loss amounting to several lakhs of rupees.
The squad over the last one year found as many as 1208 employees guilty of improper conduct, and directed their respective departmental heads to initiate action against them. The charges against the employees included remaining absent for work without notice, arriving late to the office, lingering around elsewhere instead of attending work, and even sleeping at work. Of the total 1208 employees, 376 have been issued warnings, 42 were penalised, a departmental enquiry was initiated against two employees, while salaries of 28 others were cut. Action against 508 employees has been taken till now, a report said.
The comparatively larger number of anomalies in the functioning of the civic departments has been from the octroi department. The report pointed out the octroi accounts of major companies like Bajaj Auto Limited and Bajaj Tempo Limited have not been checked for long periods of time between April ’89 and December ’98, and between April ’91 and December ’98 respectively.
The octroi account of Century Enka company has not been checked between April ’90 and February ’99. Court cases regarding octroi disputes are pending for the three companies. An amount of Rs 14.56 crore is locked because of the court cases, the report said. The report also pointed out that an amount of Rs 2.18 crore is yet to be recovered from 14 companies and transporters who hold octroi accounts. The amount has not been paid by the companies for the last six years.
Irregularities in property tax collection has been found at the Nigdi-Pradhikaran divisional office, with the vigilance squad stating that the corporation suffered revenue loss of several lakhs of rupees. It checked records of 40 properties and detected anomalies in eight cases. Of the eight cases, no property tax was being recovered from four property owners.
Avid readers would find the report of the squad interesting as it has found that the eight libraries of the corporation are not opened in time in the mornings and closed before the stipulated time. Sports enthusiasts would also take some solace from the report which stated that instructors in 18 of the 21 gymnasiums were absent from work.
Interestingly the special squad has just three members including an officer, a senior clerk and another assistant. The squad waited for long hours after the normal working hours for carrying out surprise checks in various departments. Over the last two years, the squad was also able to detect cases of octroi evasion and recovered fine of Rs 4.7 lakh.
