Hindustan Times: Ludhiana: Sunday, 20 September 2020.
The fund-starved Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) spent a whopping Rs 12.08 crore on fuel for its official vehicles in the 17 months since January 2019.
This information, which has been revealed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, comes in the backdrop of mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu’s efforts to rein in fuel theft in the corporation.
Activist Rohit Sabharwal, who had filed the RTI application, has sought an inquiry into the matter as MC, on an average, has spent around Rs 71 lakh a month on fuel alone.
As per information, the civic body’s expenditure on fuel in 2019 was Rs 8.96 crore, while another Rs 3.12 crore were spent on it till May 31 this year.
The fuel was purchased against 55 vehicles for officials, 79 tractors, 53 Tata ace, 43 tippers, 22 tankers, jetting machines and trucks, 19 JCB cranes and loaders, 14 road rollers, and nine Tata 407 and cranes.
The mayor had recently marked an inquiry after it was suspected that some employees got fuel allocated for defunct tractors. A sanitary inspector was removed from field duty till the inquiry was completed.
MC had also decided to auction around 70 vehicles, mostly Hindustan Ambassador and Maruti Gypsy cars that are 15 years old to save expenditure on fuel and repairs.
Sabharwal said besides an inquiry into the misuse or theft of fuel, it should be looked into whether the entire machinery was at work during the lockdown and how much fuel was issued against the vehicles during that time.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “I am keeping an eye on fuel consumption in MC, but the expenditure is anyway on the higher side as the civic body utilises a large number of vehicles. Inquiries were marked in the past wherever any theft or manipulation was suspected and the staff concerned were also penalised.”
“Besides, no fuel is allocated on Sundays to avoid misuse and unnecessary movement of vehicles has been restricted. I do not even take my pilot car to every place I visit in routine to save the expenditure,” he added.
Heavy vehicles being driven by sweepers, beldars
The RTI response also revealed that most of the MC vehicles, including heavy vehicles like cranes, JCB machines, tippers and road rollers, were being driven by Class-4 employees, including sweepers, sewermen, beldars, etc.
Sabharwal said MC should check whether these employees have valid driving licences for heavy vehicles.
The fund-starved Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) spent a whopping Rs 12.08 crore on fuel for its official vehicles in the 17 months since January 2019.
This information, which has been revealed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, comes in the backdrop of mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu’s efforts to rein in fuel theft in the corporation.
Activist Rohit Sabharwal, who had filed the RTI application, has sought an inquiry into the matter as MC, on an average, has spent around Rs 71 lakh a month on fuel alone.
As per information, the civic body’s expenditure on fuel in 2019 was Rs 8.96 crore, while another Rs 3.12 crore were spent on it till May 31 this year.
The fuel was purchased against 55 vehicles for officials, 79 tractors, 53 Tata ace, 43 tippers, 22 tankers, jetting machines and trucks, 19 JCB cranes and loaders, 14 road rollers, and nine Tata 407 and cranes.
The mayor had recently marked an inquiry after it was suspected that some employees got fuel allocated for defunct tractors. A sanitary inspector was removed from field duty till the inquiry was completed.
MC had also decided to auction around 70 vehicles, mostly Hindustan Ambassador and Maruti Gypsy cars that are 15 years old to save expenditure on fuel and repairs.
Sabharwal said besides an inquiry into the misuse or theft of fuel, it should be looked into whether the entire machinery was at work during the lockdown and how much fuel was issued against the vehicles during that time.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “I am keeping an eye on fuel consumption in MC, but the expenditure is anyway on the higher side as the civic body utilises a large number of vehicles. Inquiries were marked in the past wherever any theft or manipulation was suspected and the staff concerned were also penalised.”
“Besides, no fuel is allocated on Sundays to avoid misuse and unnecessary movement of vehicles has been restricted. I do not even take my pilot car to every place I visit in routine to save the expenditure,” he added.
Heavy vehicles being driven by sweepers, beldars
The RTI response also revealed that most of the MC vehicles, including heavy vehicles like cranes, JCB machines, tippers and road rollers, were being driven by Class-4 employees, including sweepers, sewermen, beldars, etc.
Sabharwal said MC should check whether these employees have valid driving licences for heavy vehicles.
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