Municipal Corporation’s Massive Scammers Ought To Face Harsh Penalties, Money Belongs To City Ought To Be Retrieved

GG News Bureau 

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 20th May. The Municipal Corporation’s massive scammers ought to face harsh penalties, and the money belonging to the city ought to be retrieved.

Indore. The city is stigmatized by the massive scam in which the Municipal Corporation accepted payments totaling crores of dollars using fictitious bills. The entire city, all the institutions involved should rise above party politics and speak out against this, making sure that the investigation into this scam goes beyond a simple persuasion and that the public money that the perpetrators stole is returned along with harsh punishment. ought to be restored.

This is the consensus that was reached during the State Press Club of Madhya Pradesh’s “Ghotale Mein Bhi Number One” discussion, which was attended by leaders of different political parties, social organizations, and news media. Participating in this conversation were Dr. Piyush Joshi of the AAP Party, Mr. Rakesh Singh Yadav, Secretary of the MP Congress Committee, Mr. Gopikrishna Nema, a former city president and BJP MLA, and Mr. Chintu Chowksey, the leader of opposition in the Indore Municipal Corporation. By questioning senior journalists who have covered the Municipal Corporation beat for years—Ms. Neeta Sisodia, Mr. Abhishek Chendke, Dr. Jitendra Jakhetia, Mr. Uttam Rathore, and Mr. Rajesh Jewel—they revealed the scope of the scandal. Opposition Leader Mr. Chintu Choukse stated that he has been asking concerns about projects like drain tapping for years and has requested information through RTI, but the Municipal Corporation has not responded with any information to far. In the second area, an unseen Sanskar Bhavan was constructed, and lakhs were collected. Such a large-scale fraud is not achievable by tiny personnel and requires the cooperation of powerful bosses. Bhopal is also linked to its strings. According to Shri Choukse, an investigation should be conducted into the removal of Ms. Harshika Singh, the former Commissioner who exposed this scam, and on whose orders.

What attribute in Abhay Verma does current Commissioner Shri Shivam Verma recognize in him that led him to assign him the responsibility of the Electricity Department in spite of his many exploits? He insisted that the current Commissioner be fired and that the Mayor clarify whether or not he was consulted before Aphay Rathore was appointed. Shri Choukse stated that corruption cases against the members of this committee alone are still pending and expressed no hope for the probe that is still underway. Only small people will be the target of this insignificant activity.

According to Mr. Gopikrishna Nema, the former President of the city, the city comes first in this scam, followed by the party. The scam’s current estimated value is around Rs 1000 crores, while it has only been shown to be approximately Rs 140 crores. The entire city should unite in concern over the circumstances that gave rise to this unbelievable swindle. Many roads and bridges would have been constructed, as well as the provision of clean drinking water, if the city had used this money for infrastructure improvements. In order to prevent similar frauds in the future and to recover the money that was stolen from the city during this scam, the entire city and its institutions need to rise above party politics and make a commitment to work together to exert pressure. Only assets worth Rs. 15-20 crores have been discovered by the accused who have come forward thus far; it is required to look into where the other funds have disappeared. According to him, in the past, purchases were sometimes conducted at higher costs or included in the tender process. However, in this case, entirely fictitious files were produced, and without any labor being done, the Treasury was paid.

Every major work typically contains a hundred pages of files with repeated signatures and comments from all the responsible parties based on the phased work; however, in this scam, all the responsible parties are disputing their signatures and discussing phony signatures. have been. With a chuckle, he said he would want to pay tribute to the person who spent so much time piecing together the signatures of so many people. He expressed unhappiness with the inquiry committee’s findings and claimed that only two of the three members had shown up to conduct an investigation, demonstrating the committee’s sincerity.

One of the suspects even received bail in just fifteen days due to the status of the police investigation. All of the accused will soon be released if the citizens of the city do not band together. He exhorted the populace to defend the city.
AAP Party member Dr. Piyush Joshi claimed that these scams are the reason why India is still an impoverished nation with wealthy citizens. The public’s recall is also very poor; we tend to forget about previous scams when they recur. He questioned why, for the past 20 years running, the city has been receiving gifts of these kinds of scams following the BJP council. The soldiers’ uniforms alone won’t be enough for the city to grow; the soldiers’ spirit must also be brought in. He praised the State Press Club’s efforts and stated that incidents like these demonstrate that the city is not dormant. The public’s acceptance of corruption as a courtesy is regrettable. If we do not speak out against corruption, future generations will not be able to forgive us.

Congressman Shri Rakesh Singh Yadav asserted that no officer or employee could be in charge of such a large-scale scandal. Without the approval of powerful people, scams cannot be carried out by altering passwords, checks, or any other kind of identification. He further asserted that municipalities in other state cities are also experiencing comparable frauds. What, after all, is the purpose for the authorities’ prolonged stay in the city across several decades? The fact that none of the city’s elected officials speak out against this suggests that these people have more clout than they do. Since these officers fund the leaders, they now control twenty-five homes and businesses, and all of the leaders remain silent. These fictitious files are raising a significant sum of money for local food banks and political activities.

This pattern of spending Rs 2500 crores in the guise of turning the mine drain into a river is still going strong, even though it cannot be turned back into a river.
Journalist Shri Rajesh Jewel said during his informational interview that all of these phony files are barely 19 pages long, have no incoming or outgoing linkages, and are worth less than Rs 2 lakh. Payment was made in the names of contractor firms in this scam, but they only received 10 to 15% commission, with 50% going to Abhay Rathore and the remaining portion going to the audit-accounts branch, etc.

He claimed that since the mayor and commissioners already receive so much, they are not complicit in this deception. A few years ago, Aslam Khan and Abhay Rathore were both the subject of economic crime investigations, but they managed to get away. He asserted that everyone connected to the corporation’s fraud, including the opposition, media, authorities, and the party, was complicit. Mr. Chouksey stated that Virbhadra Sharma is the worst offender than Abhay Rathore, to whom general payment was paid, in response to a query from Mr. Jewel. Sunil Gupta and Virbhadra Sharma ought to be detained as well. However, Mrs. Malini Gaur and Mr. Krishnamurari Moghe, the former mayor, is unrelated to this fraud.

Journalist Shri Abhishek Chendke questioned if a special convention on the subject would be demanded. Regarding this, Shri Choukse stated categorically that Congress will start a large-scale effort on this matter once the code of conduct expires. Senior journalist Ms. Neeta Sisodia expressed sadness that the city’s public representatives typically don’t seem to care about, feel sorry for, or be aware of this swindle. Even though he has written multiple reports on the subject, he has not received a single public statement from the opposition or party official attempting to get his opinion on the matter.

In response, Shri Rakesh Yadav said that the recent hacking of the government portal and the subsequent loss of its data are components of this scam, and that an effort has been made to thwart similar schemes that are being carried out in several state towns. The notice of indiscipline that Mr. Gopikrishna Neema, the city president at the time, gave to MIC member Mr. Dilip Sharma, who brought up the financial irregularities of the corporation a few years back, was questioned by journalist Mr. Uttam Rathore. Mr. Neema said that corruption was unrelated to the situation, describing it instead as a subject involving an internal dispute between two BJP councilors.

A notice of indiscipline was issued because there was a situation involving two leaders who were disparaging one another in a letter that was leaked to the public before being received by the organization. Dr. Jitendra Jakhetia questioned each speaker on their hopes and expectations for the inquiry committee that was set up to look into the scam. Almost all of the speakers agreed that it is insignificant when discussing this. With the exception of Abhay Rathore, nobody else will be connected to the inquiry committee’s probe, and the accusations made against him will be made so flimsily that he too will quickly be cleared. During this thought-provoking and animated conversation in an extremely somber setting, there was a glimmer of optimism and a determination to rise above any disagreements and speak up for the city.

Mr. Praveen Kumar Khariwal, President of the State Press Club, Mr. Navneet Shukla, Mr. Kamal Kasturi, Mr. Ismail Lahiri, a cartoonist, Ms. Sonali Yadav, and Mr. Vijay Gunjal greeted the visitors at the start of the event. Mr. Alok Bajpayee, a cultural activist and Journalist, led the presentation. Mr. Navneet Shukla, Senior General Secretary of the State Press Club, offered the vote of gratitude. In the interest of the city, representatives from numerous social organizations took part in this crucial conversation. Shri Alok Khare of Madhya Pradesh Bank Officers Association, Mohd. of Sadbhavna Manch. Shafi Shaikh, MP Medical Officers Association President Dr. Madhav Hasani, Social activist Mr. Sunil Ajmera, BJP leader Mr. Balkrishna Arora ‘Lalu’, Congress leader Mr. Sadiq Mansoori, Cartoonist Hemant Malviya, Political analyst Girish Malviya, Shri Sudesh Gupta, the Chairman of the International Human Rights Organization in Nagar, are in charge.