Jammu MC: After public outcry, ‘influential’ official removed

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 21

After public outcry, higher-ups in the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) have removed “influential” enforcement officer Ravinder Sharma from his post and initiated an inquiry against him.

The enforcement officer, who was looking after important areas of the Jammu city, is the brother of the BJP leader and Deputy Mayor of the JMC, Purnima Sharma.

“Ravinder Sharma has been attached and an inquiry has been initiated against him after receiving complaints from people,” Commissioner of the JMC told The Tribune, adding, “An official has been entrusted with the job to conduct a time-frame inquiry against the attached officer.”

The Mayor of the JMC, Chander Mohan Gupta, admitted that some officials had been suspended and attached, but he refused to give details. “It will be better if you ask the Commissioner, he will give you authentic information,” the Mayor, who also belongs to the BJP, told The Tribune when asked about the nature of complaints against the Deputy Mayor’s brother.

“It is purely an administrative matter and, secondly, I am out of station so I am not fully aware of the whole episode”, the Mayor clarified.

Sources said after the formation of the BJP-led corporation in the JMC, the brother of the Deputy Mayor was deployed at the plum posting in the city. He was appointed the enforcement officer of Jammu South, which is emerging as the business hub of the city.

“The Deputy Mayor’s brother was earlier serving in the sanitation wing of the JMC, but after the BJP came to power, he was transferred to the enforcement wing,” a source said, adding, “For the past some months, people were complaining against him, but due to his political clout, higher-ups were hesitating to take action against him.”

“During the past nearly six months, a large number of commercial complexes have been constructed in the residential areas of Jammu (South) with the connivance of the JMC officials,” a source said, adding, “It was all due to the commercialisation of residential areas that posh localities like Gandhi Nagar, Trikuta, Channi Himmat and Shastri Nagar were witnessing regular traffic jams.”