The Times of India          29.09.2010

AMC councillors splurge Rs 12L on bribing officials

AHMEDABAD: You would not believe this. Till a year and a half ago municipal councillors were utilizing the Rs 12 lakh of taxpayers’ money, allotted to them for bribing municipal officers in their respective zones and spending on infrastructure of private societies. This money should have effectively been used for public infrastructure purposes. But then, the finance department found that some of the councillors had bought laptops as presents for their favourite ward officers.

After rounding-off on some of these cases AMC found that certain other councillors had bought water purifiers to be installed in private plots and even earmarked a budget for employing a security guard for the water purifier. In many cases, renovation work was carried out in religious places, installing lights in private properties and even carrying out private repair works.

Fearing a backlash, the finance department immediately referred a general administration department circular which restricted councillors from use of public funds for such dubious purposes. The circular was brought out in 2007.

A major scam which is yet to be investigated is the installation of concrete benches in public squares. Till a year ago the zonal offices in many areas had not been maintaining a proper record of benches for public that were being ordered in their areas by corporators. In many of the industrial areas, corporators had spent lakhs for installing benches in their wards.

“This has been mostly on paper. Some of the contractors who incurred a loss in road projects or in laying civic lines were indirectly paid a lump sum by allotting them orders of benches. The corporators knew that no one would come to check whether the benches were installed or not. In other cases the corporator himself gobbled up the money.”

It was when the finance department raised an objection that the standing committee was asked to pass a resolution to standardize the size and cost of the benches. “Since the last year, we have standardized all benches and we keep a tab on how many benches a corporator recommends in his or her area. A monthly report is also being prepared. We now ask corporators to provide a detailed list of works they would want to be conducted in their respective wards with the allotted money. They are now allowed to spend only on laying roads, civic lines and repairs of public utilities,” adds the AMC officer.