RTI reveals misuse of Raahgiri funds in Gurgaon

An RTI filed by activist Aseem Takyar has revealed that the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon has spent Rs 3.10 crore on Raahgiri  between November 2013 and November 2015. Curiously, of the  total allocation, Rs 3.05 crore was spent from April 2014 to March 2015 and only Rs 21,000 was spent from April 2015 to November 2015.

 The funds sanctioned by the MCG were spent on refreshment, sports goods, maintenance and transportation of cycles for Raahagiri activities. Interestingly, it was found that a private real estate company, MDR Real Con, was alone paid more than Rs 1 crore out of the total amount of Rs 3.10 crore. On different occasions, this real estate company was paid Rs 11 lakh, Rs 9 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.

 “This is gross violation. Any amount above Rs 2.5 lakh can only be sanctioned by the commissioner,” said a senior official of the finance department, of the municipal corporation. Even during tendering, no one can give quotations above Rs 2.5 lakh.

 Financial records have also shown that companies have been paid more than Rs 3 lakh, which were sanctioned by the executive engineer.

 Official records from the MCG office showed that other companies were also providing the same confectionery items as the real estate company that was paid Rs 1 crore. 

 Surprisingly, it was found that the quotation and the vouchers signed by previous MGC commissioner Praveen Kumar were of companies without any TIN number or Sales Tax number, making them look like unregistered firms. These companies were selected because of their lowest quotations of the products used at Raahagiri.

 MCG commissioner Vikas Gupta admitted that this was a procedural lapse and the antecedents of these companies will be checked.

 A separate RTI has also revealed that the MCG bought 600 cycles, spending close to Rs 34 lakh. But just over a year after they were purchased in August 2014, none of the cycles are with the civic body. It was also revealed that the MCG donated 172 cycles to “poor people who used to be present during the event”, and handed over the remaining 428 to an NGO. There is no record of these individuals, each of whom walked away with a cycle worth Rs 6,000.

However, Sarika Panda, the owner of the NGO, has refuted the charge. She said: “The bicycles are not in our custody, but belong to Raahgiri Foundation. The MCG is the first local body that bought bicycles to promote sustainable transport in the city.” 

The Haryana Lokyukta has also filed a complaint with the Director General of Urban Local Bodies Department to find out what happened to the cycles that were bought by the civic body. The department will be setting up an inquiry team and will have to submit a report to the office within 45 days. 

The MCG Commissioner will be requesting District Commissioner TL Satyaprakash to order an inquiry in the alleged “misuse of civic body funds”.