Percentage is a passe, partnerships are in, at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation

The arrest of retired executive engineer Gesu Khan in a disproportionate assets case has rattled the corridors of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). The turn of events have made it clear to the officials that they cannot escape punishment even after retirement.

A section of officials who are known to be upright believe, "The old saying: As you sow, so shall you reap is absolutely true in this case. There are officials and engineers who have been earning crores owing to some kind of patronage or the other, but it will not be so once you retire. The arrest should serve as a warning to the corrupt officials. Some officials are sleeping partners with many contractors and are taking contracts in name of their distant relatives."

According to sources, "The nexus between the officials and contractors is not new. Officials who are the sleeping partners of contractors ensure permissions required for the work are obtained and then take care to escalate the contract value. This is the reason why not a single work of NMMC was done at the amount it was cleared. Cost escalations are shown in every project. The contract value then goes up twice or thrice of the original amount, so that everyone gets their share."

Sources said, "In some cases, civic officials are "partners" with real estate developers in a 12.5% scheme. Being a civic official, they are the ones playing a major role in obtaining necessary civic permissions."

Sources said, "The percentage system, too, is prevalent, wherein the contractor has to pay a certain percent of amount to engineers, depending on their position. There have been cases wherein civic works have been taken up, despite it not being necessary and bills were paid." 

However, according to another opinion, "There are cases wherein there is pressure on us to do certain works and in most of the cases, even our superiors do not support us. Normally, we receive orders orally for such kind of works and a junior official or engineer is the one who is often made a scapegoat."

Sources said, "Civic officials have to declare their property every year, but most officials and engineers give it a miss. If you were to compare the property owned by officials or engineers from the time they joined to the present today, you will find a quantum jump in it. There is also a need to probe the role of close relatives who are partners with the contractor and find out their source of income when they first invested in the business."

They said, "If a probe is conducted by ACB, then there are many engineers who will be been booked under income disproportionate to their known sources of income case."