The Hindu : CMCs drew Rs. 221 cr. in excess from Treasury

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 08, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

CMCs drew Rs. 221 cr. in excess from Treasury

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE May 7. The councils of seven city municipalities on the outskirts of Bangalore drew Rs. 221 crore in excess from the State Treasury, and the Finance Department was not aware of it, according to H. Sudarshan, Director, Vigilance, Lokayukta.

He was delivering the keynote address at the three-day national conference on "Civil society initiatives for better governance", organised by the Public Affairs Centre (PAC), which began here today.

Dr. Sudarshan said the seven CMCs had drawn Rs. 270 crore instead of Rs. 49 crore from the Treasury. He regretted that the transfer of money had not been taken seriously by the Finance Department. However, the documents obtained by the Lokayukta, which was investigating the multi-crore scandal, had substantiated the illegal drawing of funds, he added.

He said six persons were auditing the many documents seized from the premises of the CMCs. Admitting that staff shortage was affected speedy completion of the investigation, he said there were many vacancies in the Lokayukta. Moreover, the sanctioned staff strength of the Lokayukta was not adequate, he observed.

Dr. Sudarshan, who spoke on the extent of corruption in the Health Department, wondered whether the prevalence of spurious drugs in the market because of corruption had claimed many lives. He recalled that the people were made to pay over Rs. 200 crore in excess of the prices specified, as the Drugs Controller had failed to implement the price-control policy. He added that even multi-national companies indulged in corrupt practices.

During the raids on hospitals, the Lokayukta found that sums were fixed as bribes for "favours" in government hospitals. They were Rs. 150 for showing a newborn girl child to her relatives, and Rs. 200 in the case of a baby boy. To bring a patient out of operation theatre, his or her relatives had to pay Rs. 100.

Higher officials demanded a bribe of Rs. 60,000 or more to transfer a doctor to a particular place, and Rs. 1 crore to sanction an application for establishing a new medical college. He pointed out the irony in MBBS students having to pay Rs. 100 for their certificates before they took the Hippocrates' oath.

Dr. Sudarshan said the Lokayukta was no answer to fighting corruption, and suggested formation of people's fora with persons of integrity at different levels. Several persons who are fighting corruption in different parts of the country, such as Manubhai Shah of Ahmedabad, Jayaprakash Narayan of Hyderabad, Nikhil Dey of Rajasthan, Arvind of Delhi, are participating in the conference.

Suresh Balakrishnan, Executive Director of PAC, and Samuel Paul, its Chairman, spoke at the inaugural session.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

CMCs drew Rs. 221 cr. in excess from Treasury

Mercury transit attracts hordes of students

Traffic police assistance programme launched

Cabinet approves Metro Rail Project

Stamp duty: BDA site allottees can claim refund

MCCI to set up distribution centre

Three held on charges of cheating