MC inquiries result in pending reports, inaction

'Officials take advantage of differences between councillors of various parties to delay decisions'

The lackadaisical approach of the officials and councillors of the Municipal Corporation has ensured that inquiries in the civic body rarely reach a conclusion. The inquiry reports, when prepared, are brought to the general house and thereafter no action is taken. At times, discussion on the reports stretches across several meetings of the House with no decision being taken, with the councillors differing on issues.

The most recent in the line of inquiries conducted by the MC was that of the illegal laying of cables. In may last year, an SDE received information about an illegal road cut in Sector 33.

Subsequently the machine that was being used for the purpose was impounded. The Vigilance Department conducted a raid in Sector 34 where illegal ducts were being dug for laying of Optical Fiber Cables (OFC) without obtaining the necessary permission.

The MC house decided to conduct an inquiry into the laying of these cables, and the inquiry was entrusted to Additional Commissioner-I Sunil Bhatia, but when the report was submitted the councillors raised objections to it terming it unsatisfactory. It was then decided that the inquiry would be conducted by the vigilance officer Lalit Siwach. The inquiry report was once again brought to the house. By then a new set of councillors had been elected. They stated that there were differences in the two reports.

In 2010, the cement scam surfaced in the Municipal Corporation after a truck was caught with pilfered cement bags from an MC store in Sector 17. After an inquiry by the Chief Engineer, it was decided to chargesheet an SDE and Assistant Engineer. The services of a watchman and mason were terminated. However, w the issue finally came to the House, the councillors asked for the revokation of the termination of the services of the two.

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