Alleging that the civic body was trying to shield contractors, members of the standing committee on Tuesday slammed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for reducing the scope of audit of civic works carried out.
This is a fall out of the corporation deciding to reduce the scope of civic works audited in a year to 5% from the 25% of total works undertaken. Such a decision will only help contractors do shoddy work and get away with it, corporators protesting against the move said.
BMC has a budget of Rs 31,178cr for this fiscal. If it has to audit 25% of the works undertaken, the municipal chief auditor's dept would have to audit works involving an estimated Rs 8,000cr. Reducing the scope of audit would mean having to verify works worth only around Rs 1500cr.
"Post-work audits are meant to keep tab on the money spent on works undertaken by BMC. Audit reports pin point financial lapses, helping corporation recover money lost. Bigger the scope of work, more the revenue we can recover. If you keep the scope of audit to just 5%, BMC will recover lesser amount," Sandeep Deshpande, MNS group leader in BMC, said.
Deshpande, who raised a point of order during the committee meeting, insisted that a circular issued in this contest two years ago be withdrawn. As per the circular, the number of personnel working in municipal chief auditor's (MCA) dept has to be slashed. Additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Jalota had issued the circular.
"BMC is not only helping contractors, but reducing the strength of the dept bypassing prerogative of the standing committee. MCA dept functions under the committee. What powers does Jalota have to issue such a circular? It must be shot down immediately," Deshpande said.
The corporator from Dadar received support from house leader and Shiv Sena corporator Trushna Vishwasrao and Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Shaikh on the issue.
"The administration has been working on this plan for long. We want to know what the its intention is?" Shaikh said.
Speaking to dna, a senior civic official said: "BMC wants to weaken the 500-strong dept. Slashing the number of people in the dept will not help in the long run as public money spend has to be audited."
The meeting was adjourned following objections raised by the members. Despite repeated attempts, Jalota could not be reached for his version.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}