Mayor has 3 cars, civic chief reveals more abuse of power

[Atul Patankar]

As reported by Sachin Dravekar at timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 16 November 2009

NAGPUR: Nagpur Municipal Corporation, that pleads lack of funds for virtually everything, does not mind splurging citizens' money on official vehicles of mayor, municipal commissioner, civic officials and office bearers, often against the rules. The shocking facts was revealed in answer to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by N L Sawarkar, general secretary of Jansamasya Nivaran Sangharsh Samiti, recently.

Citing funds crunch, the NMC has also effected steep hike in water and property taxes and tried to fleece citizens by making licences mandatory for shop owners, hawkers and hospitals. It often blames its poor financial condition for absence of such basic works like repairing pot-holes and providing toilet for citizens.

As per the information provided by general administration department (GAD) of civic body, the NMC spent Rs 39.47 lakh on fuel for 32 official vehicles this year. Last year, NMC had spent Rs 36.80 lakh for the same. Mayor Maya Iwnate has three vehicles for herself-- a Hyundai Elantra (MH-31 CE1), an Ambassador (MH-31 Z 128) and a Maruti Gypsy (MH-31 AG 9469) and incurred an expenditure of Rs 5.90 lakh this year (2008-09). This is Rs 1.58 lakh more than last year. Municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta spent Rs 1.94 lakh on his two official vehicles-- a Hyundai Accent (MH-31 BG-1) and an Ambassador (MH-31 G 9909)-- this year which is Rs 60,913 more than last year.

Sawarkar told TOI that there was a state government's directive to allot only one official vehicle to one person. TOI had recently exposed that the civic bosses and office bearers in the municipal corporation were also employing multiple peons in their offices. The civic chief has an astounding 11 peons deployed at his residence and three at office, mayor has five peons, deputy mayor Kishor Kumeria has four peons while leader of opposition and NMC standing committee chairman have three peons each. Most of the time they do not have any official work and are often used for carrying out personal or political work of their boss.

The vehicle of deputy mayor Kumeria-- an Ambassador (MH-31 BG-2)-- incurred an expenditure of Rs 2.75 lakh while that of standing panel head Pravin Bhisikar's vehicle Rs 1.70 lakh. Additional municipal commissioner Vishnupad Bute's Maruti Esteem consumed Rs 1.23 lakh worth of fuel and ruling party leader Anil Sole's official Ambassador Rs 1.11 lakh. Total expenditure came to Rs 39.47 lakh.

Sawarkar further said when the divisional commissioner, who looked after the entire administration of five districts, and Nagpur Zilla Parishad president and chief executive officer were had only one vehicle each, how could the mayor and municipal commissioner get multiple vehicles.

Source: Mayor has 3 cars, civic chief reveals more abuse of power - Nagpur - City - The Times of India

Similar Threads which you may be interested into:

• BMRCL violated RTI Act: Ex-mayor
• Civic chief in court over RTI query on poles
• No RTI cover for ex-Nagpur civic chief
• Is It An Abuse Of Rti Act 2005 ?