Some more corruption in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi

And now this - the court has pulled up the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in another corruption case. Rs 1.5 crore misappropriated by its staff.  Is there no end to the corruption by the corporation's staff?

Stinking urinals, bad roads...pavements littered with garbage, when will the Municipal Corporation of Delhi give us a Capital to be proud of? The way the corporation is riddled with corruption, inefficiency, and political bosses who look the other way....a clean and neat Delhi will be a faraway dream.

Not to forget, what the corporation did some months ago - it demolished one of the few night shelters the city has for the homeless. So add to the list - the corporation does not have a heart.

The Municipal Corporation seeks consultants to tell how many employees it should have!

To those of you who have been following the progress of the ghost employees case of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on this blog, I have an apology. I am late in posting the developments on the case.

Things have moved somewhat on that front. For one - The Delhi High Court has expressed its annoyance on the way the corporation has been suppressing facts -
"This affidavit conceals everything and reveals nothing. It does not disclose facts," a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta remarked.
It is best to read the report which appeared in The Hindustan Times on May 13.


And finally -
MCD now needs consultants to tell how many Class 3 and 4 employees it should have. Its work culture is appalling. Let the news story speak for itself.

Why cannot the MCD bosses work out the number for themselves? Why pay a fat sum to consultants to comeup with a figure. It can be got for free - All it has to do is ask the residents associations. Each association will give a number of the sweepers and gardeners that are required to keep its locality clean . The markets associations would do that for commercial areas and the accompanying parking lots where they exist. An officer of the corporation could do some simple calculation on the length of the arterial roads and bigger parks and roundabouts that do not fall under any residents' locality. Each sweeper should have some set Kms of road/pavement length to clean. And each gardener should have a set garden area. Let the MCD employees report to the Residents/ Market Association. Delhi will be spruced and shining...And we can be truly proud of this city that has otherwise so much to offer.

Check this story out - http://www.hindustantimes.com/They-work-but-only-on-paper/Article1-552361.aspx

The progress in the MCD ghost employee case

With the PIL being filed in the alleged ghost employee issue, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi seems to finally be shaking off its stupor. It is reported to have told the court that it has ordered a probe into its ghost employee scam and would need another four weeks to complete it. The next date for the hearing has been fixed for April 28.
Let us see how long this case takes and if the guilty are finally brought to book.
To read a news report on the PIL hearing on February 24 click here.

Another scam hits the civic agency - this time about bogus pensioners! To read, click here.

A PIL on the MCD ghost employee scam

Here is some heartwarming news - An NGO has filed a Public Interest Litigation regarding the scam relating to the ghost employees on the rolls of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Hopefully, now we will come to know the full truth, which as residents of Delhi and citizens of India we need to know. Regular updates will be posted on this blog. I am pasting below a news item from PTI which gives some details about the PIL. It is unfortunate that apart from the Times of India, no other national paper has considered it worth its while to delve into the ghost employee issue.

As a resident of Delhi, all I can say is that seeing the garbage piled up on the streets and in marketplaces, there appears to be an urgent need for the MCD employees to do their job. The city has become dirtier over the decades.

And the stray dog population of the city has jumped. It has become very risky to go for an early morning or a later evening walk for you may encounter the canine species in packs. If you are lucky all you may have to do is a tap dance over all that dog shit. Wonder what happened to all the MCD employees who are to ensure that our streets are free of the strays? Do they really exist?

Delhi as a world class city? Wish I could see it happening..

Here is the news item about the PIL-

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) The scam relating to alleged ghost employees in MCD today reached the Delhi High Court which sought a response from the NCT government and the civic agency within two weeks on a PIL seeking a probe into it.
Issuing a notice also to Anti-corruption branch, a Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw sought their replies by February 24.
The Bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Jagrook Welfare Society, an NGO, through counsel C S Parashar seeking an inquiry by CBI or an independent agency into the scam relating to the allegation that MCD was paying salary to more than 22,000 of its gardeners and sweepers who existed as employees only on paper.

Earlier post

Shocking scandal - over 22,000 bogus MCD staffers

It is finally out - the Municicpal Corporation of Delhi has 22,853 ghost employees! The Times of India in its report, has stated that the Indian taxpayer has been paying Rs 204 crore a year for these employees every year. And for how many years has this practice been in existence? You could easily say it has been for decades. As residents of Delhi, India's Capital city, we see piled up garbage even in posh localities like South Extension and Greater Kailash and prime office complexes like Nehru Place. The situation in other loclities is worse. On paper there are sweepers allocated for every street, every block. In reality, ghosts never sweep, they only pocket money. So streets remain unswept for months, corruption is rife in all its departments, and as residents we have seen that nothing moves without palm grease. The manner in which these babus control our lives and mess it up has to be experienced to be believed.
Who would you say is responsible for the state of things? The babus or the netas? That is the bureaucrats or the politicians?
And are we, as Delhites, as Indians, going to keep quiet after this information, thanks to the biometric system, is known to us? Or are we going to lend our voice to see that the ghosts are banished once and for all. And that some action is taken against those who let them in, fattened and nurtured them. The citizens must speak up, in fact YELL and demand action. For otherwise the powers that be might never hear us.

earlier post

And now, you have to read this story in Hindustan Times. Of the tricks the employees are now resorting to so that they do not have to use the biometric system.

An NGO files a public interest litigation, so now finally we may know the full truth.

The most corrupt Municipal Corporation of Delhi

Finally a confirmation of what is already known, but little is done about.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is the most corrupt body in the country, possibly the world. A recent Right to Information query has confirmed widespread graft in the municipal corporation with as many as 4,400 corruption cases pending against about 3,400 employees, who range from peons to junior engineers. Strangely they are still employed and continuing with their money making rackets.

Try and get a housing plan passed. Or get a completion certificate for a building....and you will have to deal with these corrupt government officials. Nothing moves without greasing their palms. Refer to my story of how buildings that openly flout all norms and a great show was made of knocking down portions, stand today all patched up, mocking the citizens of Delhi. The corporation has allowed 3000 unauthorised colonies to spring up, violating Delhi's master plan. There are thousands of buildings which extend on to government land and this has been done in connivance of the junior engineers of the corporation, who are supposed to keep watch on the building activity in the city.


The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dominates the civic body having secured 164 seats in the 272-member MCD House in 2007. The Congress, had made a similar sweep in the 2002 polls.
Both the dominant parties are responsible for the state of things in the Capital.

The recent parliamentary elections in which the Congress swept all the seats in the Capital, has jolted the MCD into action. Check out the following item -
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Delhi/Poll-struck-MCD-jolted-into-action/articleshow/4572829.cms

Here is an old news item, but it tells you a lot of the attitude of those men and women responsible for overseeing the functioning of the corporation -
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/after-laptops-mcd-councillors-now-want-men/422418/