LMC officials working as contractors!
KEEPING UP his battle against LMC-contractor nexus, municipal commissioner VP Singh warned his officials against floating fake tenders to claim money. In fact, the LMC boss was surprised to find that even corporation officials were floating tenders as contractors for already completed works. This was causing additional revenue loss to the LMC. He has ordered an office probe to identify such officials.
KEEPING UP his battle against LMC-contractor nexus, municipal commissioner VP Singh warned his officials against floating fake tenders to claim money.
In fact, the LMC boss was surprised to find that even corporation officials were floating tenders as contractors for already completed works. This was causing additional revenue loss to the LMC. He has ordered an office probe to identify such officials.
In his review meeting on Wednesday, Singh expressed his anger against those officials who were also working as contractors in the LMC under fake names. He said, “I know many clerks and even higher officials are also working as contractors under fake names. I have decided to identify those officials and take action against them.”
These officials of LMC know all the ins and outs of the department and take advantage of that. Recently, when LMC Health Department floated the tenders for nullah cleaning, the municipal commissioner was surprised to know that name of those nullahs figured on the list which had already been cleaned by LMC safai workers. That simply meant the contractor getting payment in lakhs without doing any work.
An LMC official said,
“There is a powerful caucus of contractor mafia and LMC officials which runs the fake contracts racket. But, the municipal commissioner has decided to release the payment only after the physical verification and quality check of the work, which has angered the caucus.”
He quoted Singh as directing the officials not to release money without verifying the development work.
Reacting sharply to the municipal commissioner move, the contractors boycotted the tender process of nullah cleaning. Municipal commissioners have invited new contractors to register themselves and perform the task. He has decided not to bow down to the diktats of contractor – employee’s nexus.
Last month, municipal commissioner Singh asked officials to explain why over Rs 18 crores was sanctioned without proper verification of bills and work done under various departments of Lucknow Municipal Corporation. Sources say this is another reason why contractors are unhappy. One month has passed and the municipal chief still waits a detailed report on his table.
“How can anyone sanction the payments without verifying the bills? I have asked a few questions to the concerned officials,” Singh asked.