Councillor courts audio clip row, denies

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 11

A telephonic conversation purportedly between a door-to-door waste collector and a contractor has surfaced in which Rs 2,000 per rehri is being sought in the name of a councillor.

Though the authenticity of this conversation cannot be verified yet, the matter assumes significance given the fact that this is the fourth audio clip involving MC members in the recent time.

It is being verified who is circulating or making these audio clips if these are not genuine.

Councillor Vinod Aggarwal, whose name cropped up in the clip that has gone viral, denied the allegation stating that he does not know the persons heard in the audio tape. “I am in Delhi for a marriage function. I will return tomorrow to find out who are behind this,” he added.

In the phone call recording, a person claiming to be a waste collector from Subhash Nagar colony calls up a person, supposedly a contractor. The waste collector claims one Pappu has asked him to pay Rs 2,000 per month. He wanted to know what it was all about. On this, the contractor replies, “A tender (contract) for the entire Ward No. 26 has been taken and every collector with a rehri has to pay Rs 2,000 each as per local councillor Aggarwal.”

In another related audio clip circulated along with this, it is claimed that after Mani Majra, similar tender is going to be floated in Mauli Jagran.

Officially, there is no contract system for door-to-door garbage collection and collectors voluntarily take waste from each house. They have divided areas among themselves.

The audio points at a nexus thriving under the garb of influential people, who further extort money from collectors.

Fourth audio clip involving councillor

• Of late, this is the fourth time that a phone call recording of councillors in connection with money has gone viral
• Earlier, it was Independent councillor Daleep Sharma of Ward No. 19 whose alleged telephonic conversation with a Bapu Dham colony resident, Rani, surfaced. She had alleged in her complaint to the Deputy Commissioner that the councillor has taken Rs 10,000 from her to provide a water connection. The DC had marked an inquiry to the vigilance department.
• Last month, BJP councillor Bharat Kumar’s purported phone call with a sanitation firm representative had gone viral. The councillor was assured he would be taken care of every month provided he does not speak against the firm. 
• Prior to this, Daleep’s another purported audio clip was posted in a WhatsApp group showing his alleged nexus with some MC officials. 
• All councillors have denied the allegations levelled against them.