NMC official demanded huge bribe to clear bills, Wardhane appeals contractors to report him

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Nagpur News.

Dealing ‘under the tables’ has been the hidden and much talked about practice in Nagpur Municipal Corporation here, however nobody got too vocal about it in the past. However a construction contractor dared to raise his voice against the rampant corruption emanated from the huge kickbacks demanded by the officials for clearing hefty bills lying pending for months on end.

The complained has also been drafted to NMC Commissioner Shyam Wardhane, however the civic chief was yet to take action in this regard.

The complainant P Mishra from Rohan Constructions in a letter to Wardhane has stated that his bill for works completed as part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission under the water works department have been pending from the past 10 months. According to the letter, Mishra had submitted a bill worth Rs 85 lakh with junior engineer Ramesh Kohad on October 22, 2013. Since then Kohad had demanded for bribe multiple times to clear the bill. However, Mishra claimed that he had done no wrong and was unwilling to pay the bribe. Mishra has alleged that it is due to his reluctance to pay bribe that Kohad had not forwarded the bill to the accounts department.

When Nagpur Today contacted NMC Commissioner Shyam Wardhane, he said the executive engineer has been directed to go into the grievance. “I have received the complaint only two days back and the probe is being carried out.” When asked about the rampant malpractice being committed by highly placed civic officials and instances of asking for bribe in lieu of clearing the bills more often, Wardhane clarified, “I wanted to appeal all the contractors that if they have any such issue regarding any of the officials, then they should directly approach me with their complaints.”

While speaking on the issue, Mishra said that the bill should have ideally been cleared within two months. After the third month had passed by Mishra then wrote to the executive engineer but he did not receive any response to this complaint. He later brought the matter before the superintendent engineer but his plea went unheard. Finally, on August 8 Mishra submitted a complaint to municipal commissioner Wardhane and also to the NMC Contractors Association. Mishra alleged that the security deposit which he had submitted with the NMC, which were to be released six months after the completion of work, has not yet been returned.

Mishra said that all his work was upto the mark and was completed in due time after he took up the contract through a legitimate tender in the year 2009.

President of the NMC Contractors Association Vijay Nayudu said that a letter has been written to the civic chief from the association as well and strict action again Kohad has been demanded. Nayudu also said that the matter would be taken with the anti corruption bureau (ACB) if Wardhane too fails to act.