In the backdrop of the missing files controversy in the BMC, it has come to light that nearly 150 officials and employees in the Development Plan (DP) and the Building Proposal (BP) have not been transferred even after completing over three years with the civic body. Interestingly, some of them have been working for more than 10 years in these departments.
The matter came to light when BMC corporators alleged that it was due to the alleged corruption in the BP and DP departments that several important BMC files went “missing”. According to civic officials, 10,531 files have been found missing from the BMC, mostly from the DP and BP department. Of these, 87 per cent files belonged to the years before 1991, the year when the current Development Plan came into existence.
The DP and BP departments, which are regularly frequented by developers and builders, have posts that are considered to be the most “lucrative” in the civic body and hence, civic officials always make a beeline to work in these departments. According to the civic policy, any officer/employee after working for a period of three years in a certain department, is generally transferred to the other department.
However, in a statement presented to the civic improvements committee on Monday, it is said that there are as many as 78 officers/employees in the DP department, who have been working for more than three years, whereas there are 67 such
officials in the BP department. Four officers/employees are working in the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) department for more than three years.
Samajwadi Party corporator Ashraf Azmi, who had earlier raised the issue in the improvements committee, has demanded a thorough probe into the matter. “The missing files controversy has arisen due to the nexus between the civic officials and developers. It is shocking to see several officers/employees working year after year in these two important departments. The BMC should hold an inquiry into this and find out how rules have been flouted to favour these officials,” he said.