Despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee giving a clean chit to the procedure of splitting the file (awarding the contract to several parties) for the work for installing trident lamps, member mayor-in-council (MMiC) Atin Ghosh said that the norm of splitting the file which was implemented by the previous Left Front board created scope for corruption.
Rattled by the questions of corruption that took place in the installation of the trident lamps, Mr Ghosh made this sensational counter-allegation during the Budget discussion session on Tuesday.
“The previous board formulated the policy of delegation of power of splitting the files to the higher officials. It is because of this norm that the officials took advantage of this policy and split the files of contracts.” The MMiC’s explanation was an apparent attempt to pass the buck to the officials.
Meanwhile, in wake of the Surya Sen market fire, MMiC market Tarak Singh announced on the floor of the House that the task force has identified 312 markets under 15 boroughs of the KMC. “The civic board would be collaborating with the expert agencies such as Jadavpur University, Bengal Engineering and Science University to formulate guidelines to upgrade these markets in terms of fire safety and submit a draft proposal with the state government. We would also discuss the matter with chief minister.”
The Opposition councillors, however, rejected the civic Budget stating that enough allocations have not been made for slum development.