5,900 files missing since 2009,BMC orders probe

At the meeting,standing committee members alleged some BMC officials and builders were together destroying files to cover up illegal activities. Standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale demanded that the civic body seek a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into the matter.

While the corporation has not committed to such action yet,Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani said information officials of various civic departments have been appointed as designated officers (DOs) to ensure safety of files.

“According to the Maharashtra Public Records Act,these officials have been appointed to investigate the case. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty of deliberately misplacing files,including a fine of Rs 10,000 and up to five years imprisonment. We are also in the process of tracing the back-up files that may be available with other departments in the corporation,” said Adtani.

As the city engineer and the chief engineer of the BMC’s building proposals and development plan departments were absent,Shewale adjourned the meeting.

“Files going missing from the BMC is not just an issue of carelessness on the part of the civic administration,but it threatens the security of the city as details of various properties have gone missing — if in wrong hands,this could be disastrous,” said Shewale.

BJP leader and standing committee member,Dilip Patel,said the issue puts the civic body’s move towards e-governance in poor light. “The water department,property tax department and other such departments keep back-ups of all their documents. The BMC has begun keeping electronic records of such files,so how can they have disappeared? The point of e-governance is completely lost,” he said.

“The officials were very cagey with details regarding the missing documents. They have not mentioned any specific details regarding the number of files missing,when these files date back to and which departments are concerned.”

“This is clearly an evidence of organised crime. It is unreasonable that the municipal commissioner should investigate his own building proposals department. We do not believe the investigation

will be impartial,which is why we demanded that a CID probe be done. However,they shot down our proposal,” said Samajwadi Party’s Rais Sheikh.