PANAJI: A few days after the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) stumbled upon the fact that the amount collected as house tax was being siphoned off, now, CCP mayor Carolina Po has revealed that the amount being siphoned off has run into lakhs of rupees. It maybe pointed out here that following this, the Panaji civic body had suspended one Altaf Shaikh who had been entrusted with the job of recovery clerk since the last two and half years.

These developments also come at a time when the CCP has claimed that its coffers are almost empty and was forced to revoke its employees' salaries to the 5th Pay Commission levels.

"We have already found that house tax entries worth a lakh of rupees has been deleted from our records. This money was collected by the CCP during the period of April-May in 2008," the mayor said.

However, opposition corporator Surendra Furtado alleged that at least Rs 25 lakh worth of house tax payments have been siphoned off by the culprits over the last two-and-a-half years.

On preliminary inquiry, two cases were found wherein CCP receipts of Rs 5,500 each were issued to residents, but not entered into the revenue books. "If Rs 10,000 can be siphoned off in a day, then the culprits could have stolen at least Rs 25 lakh over such a long period of time. This operation cannot be done by one person. There are definitely more people involved. The suspended employee should be terminated from service. Then only will he spill the beans. If he is just suspended from service, he will sit quiet," Furtado said, adding, "No employee will dare do such things without the blessings of ruling corporators."

Po refuted these allegations. "Certainly, there are others involved in this racket as he (Shaikh) would not be carrying it out all by himself. But, I can vouch that there are no corporators involved in the racket," she said.

Commissioner Elvis Gomes said that the inquiry into the racket is well in progress. "We are verifying each and every entry over the last two-and-a-half years. We have downloaded the entire list of house tax entries and are verifying whether the party paid the house tax, because the entry against it shows a zero amount," he said.

Demanded that the corporation of the city of Panajiplace the CAG's audit report for 2007-08 for discussion at the council meeting, he said, "Why has the CCP not placed the CAG report before the council for discussion? It is time the government steps in."

CHANDIGARH: With litres of water going down the drain everyday, the municipal corporation has come up with a financial solution that it feels can plug the wastage. An agenda relating to hike in water tariff is all set to be tabled during a finance and contract committee meeting during the coming week. The number crunching - done by engineering wing’s public health department - indicates an almost 50% increase in water rates. However, the economically weaker sections would not be saddled.

According to information, the increase per unit for first slab (1 to 15,000kl) of domestic use has been proposed at Rs 3 against the current Rs 1.75, the second slab (15,001 to 30,000kl) from Rs 3.50 to Rs 5, third slab (30,001 to 60,000kl) from Rs 5 to Rs 7, and fourth (60,000kl and above) from Rs 6 to Rs 7. The charges for commercial supply have been proposed at Rs 15, from the current Rs 11.

MC commissioner Roshan Sunkaria said, ‘‘The proposed hike is almost by 50% and poor sections have been kept out of the loop.’’ Tagging conservation as the chief reason, Sunkaria said, ‘‘This hike is required as there is water shortage in the city. Besides, we are bound to act according to an agreement under JNNURM.’’

Explaining further, MC additional commissioner-cum-secretary P K Sharma said, ‘‘As part of the JNNURM deal, the Union government’s terms are very clear ‘ UT will get the grants only if we too generate resources to fulfil the water demand. Apart from that, the cost of generation, execution and maintenance of water-related works has gone up tremendously.’’ Sharma listed the overall increase in water tariff across the nation as another cause.

Not wishing to be named, a senior engineer told TOI, ‘‘Water level in Chandigarh is going down. As a result, most of the southern sectors are facing an acute shortage.’’

However, the move has left the political class cross. Congress councillor and chairman of water committee Ravinder Pal Singh Pali said, ‘‘This is totally unjust and we’re not aware of any hike. We will not allow this proposal to pass.’’ Former mayor Harjinder Kaur, a SAD councillor, said, ‘‘During the tenure of Congress-led MC, then mayor Surinder Singh had signed the JNNURM agreement with Centre without taking the elected body into confidence. Why should Chandigarh residents pay for the deficiencies of Congress. The city generates surplus budget, which is sent to Union government. Why can’t that money be used for this purpose’’’

BSP councillor Jatinder Bhatia suggested, ‘‘The civic body must find out a way to stop wastage. Then, it must penalize government departments or officials who have failed to clear huge water bills for years. Only after recovering the amount should the MC think of hiking water rate.’’