ALVARO COLACO
CORTALIM: Paying Rs 200 for a cup of tea, Rs 100 for a samosa and Rs 200 for a wada pav can be expected if one were to dine at a five-starred resort.
But believe it or not, the Sancoale panchayat had paid these exorbitant rates to the Shantadurga Canteen as part of refreshment bills during a free “eye cataract surgery” camp on April 28, 2013.
An audit report has also found several other irregularities in the Sancoale panchayat.
An RTI application, which is in possession of Herald, has revealed gross misuse of funds by the panchayat, prompting sharp reactions from locals.
A perusal of the bill pertaining to snacks has revealed that the panchayat paid an exorbitant amount per item. For instance, a bill dated April 30, 2013, reveals that the panchayat had paid Rs 2,000 for 10 wada pavs, Rs 600 for 6 samosas and Rs 2,000 for 10 special teas. A total amount of Rs 5,016, which included bottled water and biscuits, was paid to Shantadurga canteen.
What makes these figures unusual is the fact that barely a week earlier, the same Shantadurga canteen had charged Rs 12 for single wada Pav and Rs 66 for six teas and 6 Samosas on April 23, 2013.
These transactions had taken place during the tenure of former sarpanch Ramakant Borkar and then secretary Narayan Azgaokar.
An audit report of the panchayat for 2011-12 under the heading ‘major irregularities’ has revealed that the panchayat had refunded an amount of Rs 5,50,430 from an amount of Rs 11,00,890 to a person, which the latter had paid towards construction licenses.
The audit report censored the panchayat for refunding the money without assigning any reason and without the approval of the director of panchayats and termed it as a serious lapse on the part of the panchayat secretaries.
While this act of the panchayat has been challenged in the High Court, the petitioner Narayan D Naik has alleged that the panchayat had so far failed to comply with the audit report objections.
Stating that she was not aware of the report, Panchayat Secretary Sandhya Shirodkar said she would go through the report before taking a call on it. When asked about the refreshment bill, Shirodkar said she had nothing to say.
Stating that such irregularities were going on even during the previous tenure of Ramakant Borkar when he presided as deputy sarpanch and also acting sarpanch, the petitioner Narayan D Naik has revealed from the RTI reply that the panchayat had paid lawyer’s fees amounting to Rs 65,500 and Rs 36,000 for Borkar’s private criminal case bearing no 169/s/2008/C.
The audit report has also stated that the panchayat had not entered into any agreement with the advocate concerned so as to fix charges.
Asked why they remained silent for so long on the issue, Sancoale Panch Narayan G Naik replied: “Form 10 which gave detailed income and the expenditure was not made available. Even resolutions were being taken after the meeting,” said Naik.
“There are two resolution books which have been deliberately misplaced and a missing complaint has been filed with the Verna police. But no action has been taken by the police in solving the mystery. I had also filed a complaint with the police, but no action has been forthcoming,” Naik informed.
When contacted, Sancoale Sarpanch Sharan Meti said he had come to know about the development only recently. “I have made it very clear after I resumed office no corruption of any sort will be tolerated whether pertaining to tenders or bills. I will ensure total transparency,” Meti said. Saying that it is job of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to investigate into the illegal transactions, Sancoale activist Lawrence Fernandes said the ACB should expose the wrongful deeds and bring the culprits to justice. Former sarpanch Ramakant Borkar could not be contacted.
Daylight robbery?
1. Rs 5,50,430 refunded to a private party from the constructions fees of Rs 11,00,890 earlier received by the panchayat. The refund of fees had been done without assigning any reason and with the approval of the competent authorities.
2. Rs 3,33,600 paid towards disposal of garbage without following proper procedures like preparation of estimates or inviting tenders/quotations and also without recovery of income tax, VAT service tax.
3. Rs 65,500 and Rs 36,000 paid as advocate fees without panchayat entering into an agreement with the lawyer.
4. Rs 80,000 paid towards de-silting of wells with inviting quotations and no completion certificate has been recorded.
5. Donations given to samitis and clubs have been told to recover and credited to panchayat fund.
6. 117 audit paras are outstanding from 1983-84 to 2008-09. Panchayat has not initiated any action to settle the pending audit paras.
