Congress protests 9 scams in Faridabad MC since 2014

Chandigarh, March 22

Advertisement

Congress MLAs today protested in the Vidhan Sabha over nine scams that have surfaced in the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) since 2014.

Protest by MLA

When Sharma returned to the House in dhoti and wrapped cloth, the CM said it was known in advance that a “namoona” (example) would be seen. “No one will be spared. It is we who have caught the people indulging in corruption,” he said. Former CM Hooda stood up and alleged that Khattar govt was completely drowned in corruption. CM hit back, saying a number of recruitments during his regime had to be cancelled.

Faridabad NIT MLA Neeraj Sharma even took a pledge in the House that he would sacrifice his clothes and shoes till the action is taken.

Earlier, in a reply to Neeraj Sharma’s question, Local Bodies Minister Kamal Gupta submitted that among the nine different scams in the MCF, one of the cases was related to the alleged concealing of evidence in the transferring of 8,012 sq yard government land to M/s Indian Hardware Industries and sanctioning the plans on the basis of the bogus documents. The State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) had registered the case on August 22, 2019, against 20 persons, including two tehsildars, one naib tehsildar, an Executive Engineer and officials of the MCF for cheating and forgery, which is pending investigation.

The SVB registered a case on January 11, 2022, for allegedly causing loss of crores in the construction of drain and pulia in the NIT Faridabad and in making a road from Budha Vihar Chowk to Hardware Chowk. Another case was registered on February 4, 2022, for irregularities in the execution of development works in different wards of the MC. The SVB inquiry is pending but the state government has decided to chargesheet three officials, the then Chief Engineer DR Bhaskar, the then Executive Engineer Raman Sharma and Accounts Officer Vishal Kaushik.

One case is related to bounced cheques. The local body has recovered Rs 1.37 crore in respect of 502 dishonoured cheques, while the recovery in the case of 680 cheques of Rs 3.12 crore was pending. The SVB had indicted then patwari Ballabhgarh Chet Ram regarding the encroachment of the land of Kalpana Chawla Park on February 18, 2022. Vigilance inquiries, registered in 2021, for the connivance of officials with land mafias, against a contractor Satbir Singh and officials of the MCF in the execution of works and against contractor Praveen Kumar and officials of the local body regarding a work of sewer line are pending.

Sharma asked by what time inquiries would be completed and alleged that an accused was given a post-retirement job too. Congress MLAs Aftab Ahmed, Geeta Bhukkal and Jagbir Malik also stood up and started seeking answers from the minister.