The Hindu 15.05.2013
‘2 of 7 sweepers in SHGs fictitious’
There could be at least two fictitious members in each
of the 2,600 seven-member self-help groups (SHGs), which are assigned
the task of sweeping the city’s roads, suspect senior officials of the
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
“We think
the erstwhile contractors had managed to infiltrate SHGs by inserting
names of their wives and others during the groups’ formation itself.
They never attend to work, yet salaries are promptly credited into
individual bank accounts, leading to funds embezzlement,” they explain.
It
has been exactly a year since the GHMC bid goodbye to the scam-ridden
contractor system where 18-member units functioned instead of the
current seven-member SHGs.
Nearly 18,000 contract labourers are involved in the sweeping of roads, with each drawing a salary of Rs.6, 700.
These SHGs have been employed in 18 circles of the city.
Slack supervision
Despite
the fact that there is a supervisor (contract employee or from the
regular staff), for every five SHGs, the civic body has been unable to
unearth the fake members fund misuse. Some GHMC officials point out that
handing over the supervisory role to the outsourced staff and the lack
of regular field supervision has led to leaks in the SHG network.Shocked
by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) raid on the Qutbullapur municipal
circle office where unaccounted money of Rs.1.99 lakh was found in the
possession of some municipal staff, GHMC officials firmly believe in the
connivance of local public representatives and staff in the affair.
“That
there are leaks in the system despite crediting salaries into
individual accounts without the group leader having any say is
unfortunate,” remark senior officials.
They, however,
claim that the current system is way better than the discarded system.
Complaints from workers about non-payment of salaries have reduced
considerably.
Moreover, the civic body now saves on contractors’ margin and service tax.
