BMC Parishad Meeting: Commissioner Recommends Ouster Of 3 Corporators, Mayor Orders Probe Into Corruption

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Pandemonium reigned supreme at the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Parishad meeting on Thursday over Commissioner Harendra Narayan’s recommendation for the removal of three corporators – one from the Congress and two from the BJP. Cutting across party lines, corporators protested against the move, seeking action against officials in corruption cases instead.

The corporators whose removal has been recommended to the divisional commissioner are Congress’s Yogendra Guddu Chauhan and BJP’s Arvind Verma and Rajesh Chaukse. Verma, a BJP corporator from Ward 48, allegedly used abusive words against Vashudev Udenia, the Assistant Health Officer (AHO) of his ward.

The AHO shared the relevant call recording with Narayan, who made his recommendation. However, as recording a call secretly is a violation under the IT Act, so the AHO has also been suspended with immediate effect. BJP corporator Devendra Bhargav from ward-12 alleged, “The Zonal Officers (ZO) are indulging in corruption.

Their modus operandi is to send notices of inflated tax so people rush to them for settlement. Then, they seek tickets to Vaishno Devi in AC-1 through the counter windows for four to five members. Once they get the tickets, they go and get them cancelled, pocketing the refund money.”

Citing examples, Bhargav said, “Some Ram Babu Vishwakarma was sent a notice of Rs 3.62 lakh. Despite repeated notices, Vishwakarma did not turn up. Yet, Rs 71,000 was shown in the record. How did that happen? Similarly, a ZO served a notice of Rs 29,000 property tax while the actual tax was Rs 7,000. Eventually, a deal was struck at Rs 2,500.”

Mayor orders probe

Mayor Malti Rai said, “A probe will be done based on corporator Devendra Bhargav’s allegations regarding corruption perpetuated by the ZOs. At the same time, BMC officials should also show respect to democratically elected representatives (corporators). When officials do not take phone calls, corporators get irritated. Meanwhile, the ZO and the AHO will remain suspended till the probe is completed.”

Verma confirms ...

Corporator Arvind Verma confirmed the commissioner has recommended his removal along with that of Rajesh Chaukse and Guddu Chauhan “on grounds of misbehaviour with officials”.