Vital Services Crash As Graft Taint Hits MCD

All 3 corporations begin mass removals as corruption charges cripple health, education, sanitation & building departments

- Ankit Yadav

Wednesday’s proceedings at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)-North were unprecedented.

“Corruption is happening everywhere. I hardly have engineers of impeccable track record. When I informed the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor about this, he said I should start action from the top and not from the junior officials,” Commissioner Varsha Joshi said in the House.

Standing Committee chairperson Jayaprakash also said only 17, of the civic body’s 230 engineers, have no charge sheet against them. Half of them are facing serious charges. About two weeks ago, 39 charge-sheeted engineers were forced to retire. Central agencies like CBI and ED are probing 17 officials.

On Thursday, Joshi told Mail Today that the crackdown on corruption continues but staff shortage is proving to be a major challenge.

But the situation is not limited to the North corporation. The two other for South and East Delhi have also triggered mass removals of officials as corruption has crippled health, education, sanitation and building departments, a Mail Today reality check has revealed. Lakhs of people looking to avail themselves of vital civic services have been badly affected.

Take, for example, the South corporation. In the past few days, 17 officials facing charges of corruption and laxity were forced to retire, a vigilance department official said. “As many as 45 officers are facing serious charges and 50 others have preliminary investigation initiated against them,” he said.

Mayor Sunita Kangra said, “See, every charge-sheeted officer is not corrupt. Charge sheets are filed also for non-performance. Those who have been charged many times are being taken off important departments.”

The South corporation used compulsory retirement provisions to remove 16 corrupt and non-performing officials in September as well.