Guilty TMC officials face action

MUMBAI, Sept 10: The Maharashtra government will soon initiate action against several Thane Municipal Corporation TMC officials, includ...

MUMBAI, Sept 10: The Maharashtra government will soon initiate action against several Thane Municipal Corporation TMC officials, including at least three former municipal commissioners 8211; J P Dange, Madusudan Tanksale and Prabhakar Manchekar 8211; indicted by the Nandlal Committee. The special committee, headed by secretary of the urban development department N Nandlal, probed charges of irregularities in TMC and submitted its report in December last year.

The action to be taken includes a departmental inquiry against the guilty officials, an inquiry into corruption charges by a retired judge of the district or high court, and an independent probe into assets and properties of the officials by the Anti-Corruption Bureau ACB.

More than 75 per cent of TMC officials, including deputy municipal commissioners, engineers, deputy engineers, junior engineers, etc. would come under the scope of the inquiry, because the Nandlal committee covered areas as wide as construction of Kalwa bridge and roads, unauthorisedconstructions, installations of lamps on roads and commission in awarding contracts.

Some of the officials against whom action has been recommended have already been nabbed by the ACB, and some have been suspended.

However, it is learnt that though 57 of the present corporators and some past corporators have also been indicted by the Nandlal committee report, no action is being taken against them. Some of the public representatives indicted include former mayors, deputy mayors, standing committee chairpersons, leaders of the house and leaders of opposition.

A top TMC official said the government is making a scapegoat of the civic officials, while non-officials are being let off the hook.

Enquiry of officials of the rank of commissioner would be carried out independently, while the enquiry of officers of the rank of DMC and below will be carried out by officers designated either by the commissioner or the state government. Instructions to this effect were given to the commissioner by the stategovernment last week, it is learnt.