Times of India: New Delhi:
Tuesday, March 25, 2014.
The 810 flats
at Air India's housing colony have been crying out for renovation. Senior
officials have been fighting for several years to improve their living
conditions. The crumbling walls and dilapidated look are telltale signs of not
just neglect but a possible misuse of funds the airliner claims to have spent crores
on renovating these flats; where all that money went is anybody's guess.
Water seeps
from the ceiling owing to tanks on the rooftop; the decades-old distemper has
come off most walls; cement awnings have given way to expose the girder frames.
Even so, Air India claims to have spent about Rs 3.91 crore on the flats in
Vasant Vihar (near Vasant Continental) in 2010-11. While details of the
expenditure in the current financial year are not available, senior Air India
officials claim renovation of the colony is in full swing. According to them,
contractors have been hired. It is another matter that the residents haven't
seen any labourers apart from those engaged by them.
The occupants
wrote a letter to the chief vigilance commissioner in November last year,
requesting him to look into the alleged financial bungling in maintenance of
the airline's highest quarters. They have also written to the President, Prime
Minister and the civil aviation minister several times, attaching the replies
of RTI queries filed by them (TOI has the copies). A Ganeshamurthi, an MP,
recently wrote to the minister, seeking his intervention.
In a letter
dated February 4, 2014, Ajit Singh, the current civil aviation minister, told
Ganeshmurthi: "The matter has been examined by the chief vigilance officer
(CVO), Air India Limited. In his report, the CVO has informed that a committee,
comprising three senior officers of Air India staying in the colony in Vasant
Vihar, had been formed on September 11, 2013 to coordinate security and the
overall discipline in the colony." The letter, however, doesn't mention
the findings of the report, and only says the tenders for maintenance work have
been floated.
In the
colony, 646 flats are occupied by officials of the erstwhile Indian Airlines,
while 164 are in possession of Air India employees. An RTI query reveals Rs
60,000 had been allocated for each Indian Airlines flat, while Rs 5,000 was set
aside for an Air India flat in 2010-11. Residents, however, claim no work has
been done on their flats and that they are paying from their own pockets.
Air India,
which did not respond to TOI's questions despite several attempts to reach
them, also remained silent on several queries made by the applicant of the RTI,
which sheds light on the amount spent on 'renovation'. When asked about budget
allocation and spending from 2004 to 2010-11, Air India could only provide
details from 2007-08, as the previous data was "not available".
"There
has been no repair work in the colony for at least seven years. In addition, no
RWA was formed for years. Decisions were taken by a few individuals who had
appointed two contractors on paper. Contractors had to carry out repairs and
renovate the flats by turns. We are officials of a respected company living
with our families and this is the condition," said an Air India official.
A source, who didn't want to be identified, hints at large-scale misuse of
funds.
Air India has
a similar housing colony in Mumbai. Sources say work was being conducted there
in transparent way, while the goings-on in the Delhi quarters are apparently
shrouded in secrecy. "We have an internal website webmail.airindia.in which
has all the details about the official quarters. While information on Mumbai
flats is up to date, the Delhi data is not. There is something amiss, and
despite several letters to all the authorities, everyone's turned a blind
eye," said the source.
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