A day after Haryana home minister Anil Vij recommended suspension of three Ambala Sadar municipal council (MC) officials for neglecting duty, the department of urban local bodies on Tuesday suspended four officials, including executive officer (EO) Ravinder Kumar.
As per the order issued by additional chief secretary Arun Gupta, the other three suspended officials are municipal engineer Harish Sharma, building inspector Ramesh Kumar and junior engineer Vishal Chauhan.
Vij had on Monday conducted a surprise inspection of the municipal council office and inspected offices of EO and his personal assistant (PA). While scrolling down the public complaints on the official email ID, the minister found scores of them unresolved.
Vij even called two complainants, who had raised concern over non-functional street lights.
“I asked if the lights had started working and both replied in negative. Moreover, a complaint forwarded by the municipal commissioner ordering removal of some encroachments was also unresolved,” Vij had said. After Vij left, relevant files were handed over to Ambala municipal commissioner Neha Singh for a preliminary enquiry.
“I found that a complaint regarding non-functional streetlights was received on the evening of October 4, and was not market by the EO to the branch concerned for redressal. He said that it was a Dussehra holiday next day and October 8 and 9 were the weekend, but it was not worked upon on October 6 or 7 either. On the other street light complaint, it was found that the JE didn’t file a report. I submitted my initial enquiry report to the ACS and the minister,” said Singh.
{{/usCountry}}“I found that a complaint regarding non-functional streetlights was received on the evening of October 4, and was not market by the EO to the branch concerned for redressal. He said that it was a Dussehra holiday next day and October 8 and 9 were the weekend, but it was not worked upon on October 6 or 7 either. On the other street light complaint, it was found that the JE didn’t file a report. I submitted my initial enquiry report to the ACS and the minister,” said Singh.
{{/usCountry}}The commissioner, however, said that no one was held responsible in connection to the non-removal of encroachments
“On September 29, the complaint was marked to the administrator and the EO, and sent on mail the next day. They were told to take necessary action and submit a report within 15 days. No lapse was found in this case and they had not missed the deadline,” the MC commissioner said.