By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 15 Jun: A report file has been finalised in the case of salary fraud worth crores of rupees in the name of sanitation workers under the Swachhata Samitis (sanitation committees) by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation engaged in the cleanliness in the city. This report will soon be submitted to the Municipal Commissioner by the Municipal Health Officer. After that it is expected that the process of recovery will be started by Dehradun Nagar Nigam against the payment of salaries to 99 fake sanitation workers. The salaries were paid to 99 such sanitation workers who were never engaged for sanitation in reality. It appears to be a clear case of embezzlement.
It may be recalled that once this scam surfaced, the Municipal Commissioner had sought a report from the Municipal Health Officer on four points in the investigation report. The Municipal Health Officer, while investigating the four points in the investigation report received from the CDO, has prepared a ward-wise list of salaries of inspectors, supervisors and employees from the year 2019 to 2 December 2023.
It may also be recalled that a decision was taken in the Nagar Nigam’s Board Meeting in the year 2019 that Sanitation Committees (Swachhta Samitis) should be formed in all 100 Municipal Wards in Dehradun and in each committee, 8 to 12 sanitation workers were hired, Rs 15,000 each was to be given to each sanitation worker per month as honorarium. There are over 1,000 sanitation workers in these 100 wards but then it surfaced that many of the workers were hired on papers only and never hired in reality. Salary payment to such workers was obviously embezzled by some inspectors and supervisors. Before the term of the Municipal Corporation ended, the salary of the sanitation workers was given to the Health Committee.
After the dissolution of the Nagar Nigam Board on 2 December, the Nagar Nigam Administration attempted to make some amendments. Based on some complaints regarding irregularities and fake payment of salaries, it was decided that the salaries (honorarium) of the sanitation workers be transferred directly to the bank accounts of the sanitation workers and therefore bank account details and Aadhaar Card details of each worker was sought for this purpose. During the course of physical verification, it was found that many employees from the list provided earlier did not exist, and in their place some other workers were engaged and they were being paid lower wages than the designated amount.
After this, Municipal Corporation Administrator and District Magistrate Dehradun Sonika handed over the investigation of the matter to CDO Jharna Kamthan. In the investigation of documents along with physical verification, it was found that there were 99 employees in 22 wards, whose names were provided to the Municipal Corporation but they were not engaged or they existed only on papers. The investigation was completed by the CDO in about four months and then the report reached the District Magistrate’s table in early May. From there, about a week later, Municipal Commissioner Gaurav Kumar had sought a report on four points from the senior Municipal Health officer regarding the investigation report.
Under the Swachhata Samiti, the sanitation workers were issued a salary of Rs 15,000 every month in the name of the employee. In such a situation, a salary of Rs 14.85 lakhs per month or Rs 1.78 crores per annum was paid in the name of the 99 employees who did not actually exist. The total scam in the 5 year period allegedly paid in name of these 99 employees turns out to be Rs 8.91 crores. Naturally, if the recovery is made, the Nagar Nigam will be able to recover more than Rs 8 crores. It can be stated that this recovery needs to be made from sanitation supervisors and sanitation inspectors who might have embezzled this amount. According to the sources in Nagar Nigam, the process for the recovery will soon be launched.
