Times of India: Gurgaon: Friday, April 21, 2017.
An RTI reply
has revealed MCG has failed to give an explanation to the Haryana accountant
general's query on the Rs 1.7 crore spent on plantation drive in the Aravalis
over eight months of 2013-14.
According to
the reply, MCG spent Rs 59.52 lakh on food for labourers. The RTI reply also
revealed other norms were violated while carrying out the drive, in which about
2 lakh trees were planted.
The response
in Hindi states, "It's been found that Rs 1,70,65,326 was spent in just 8
months (from December 2013 to August 2014) by MCG to plant 2,12,182 trees in
Ghata, Gwalpahari and Sikanderpur villages. Most of these areas come under
forest department, but MCG didn't seek permission from it before carrying out
the drive."
The response
was provided by Principal Accountant General (Audit) Haryana, who demanded that
the amount spent on plantation drives to be regularised. "It was an
unnecessary expense. Few plants survived. I'm glad the accountant general has
asked MCG to either recover the amount from the department which has
jurisdiction over the land, or charge concerned MCG officials," said Aseem
Takyar, who filed the RTI.
TOI visited
the area and found only around 10% of trees planted survived. Locals said trees
planted during the drive died within 3-4 months. "There was frequent
movement of labourers in the area in then. They planted many saplings., mostly
of fruit but few such plants can survive here," said Ram Prakash of
Sikanderpur.
Activist
Vivek Kamboj, who had asked MCG to stop the drive in 2013-14, alleged it was an
attempt at siphoning public money. "Departments like forestry, soil and
water conservation have better expertise to carry out such drives, while MCG
fails to even deliver services under its jurisdiction. The plantation drive was
carried out just to syphon public money," he said.
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