Nine months on BMC still has no vigilance officer

Since the past nine months, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities have not been able to appoint either a vigilance officer or an assistant vigilance officer for the respective department. Keeping a check on the various departments of BMC, ensuring transparency in their functioning and finding gaps in the system by scrutinising complaints are the core deliverables of the vigilance department.

The vigilance department comes directly under municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte. The vigilance officer's duty is to carry out regular checks at the five octroi nakas in the city to keep a tab on the goods coming into the city and the octroi collected on them and also keep a tab on unauthorised construction. The official also scrutinises complaints in other departments and act on unscrupulous staff.

Nine months ago, vigilance officer Jagannath Ghadge had retired and the assistant vigilance officer SS Gaikwad was transferred to another department. Since then, their post have not been filled. The department currently comprises eight security officials and as per usual practice, one of them is selected for vigilance officer's post.

When questioned about the matter, a senior civic official explained that the municipal administration has not been able to find the appropriate candidate yet. "We are looking for suitable candidates for the position, but haven't found any so far. We will try to appoint someone as soon as possible," said the official.