The Road Department of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Monday submitted a report about finding cash in one of the department’s officer’s lockers last week. The bundles of five hundred rupees were found in the officers’ drawer last week.
A week ago, on March 5, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP’s) Pimpri-Chinchwad city president Raviraj Kale visited the Road Department office to inquire about the status of his complaint. On arrival, he found the engineer engrossed in a meeting and was asked to wait outside. A man emerged from the engineer’s cabin carrying a yellow bag. He proceeded to deposit a packet directly into the deputy engineer’s drawer.
The video of the incident went viral on social media, and after public outrage over the incident, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar initiated an inquiry into the issue.
On Monday, Road department head Aniruddha Pawaskar submitted the report of primary findings about the incident. He, however, refused to comment on the outcome of the findings.
“As instructed by the Municipal Commissioner, after a thorough departmental inquiry, I submitted the report of the incident on Monday. As it is a confidential report, I cannot disclose the findings,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“As instructed by the Municipal Commissioner, after a thorough departmental inquiry, I submitted the report of the incident on Monday. As it is a confidential report, I cannot disclose the findings,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, considering the seriousness of the issue, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) launched a separate probe into the issue. Some of its officers visited the PMC and took CCTV footage of the premises.
Reacting to the development, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said, “I asked the Road Department head to carry out a detailed inquiry and submit the report for same. If the concerned officer is found guilty, strict action will be taken against him and others involved.”
Meanwhile, Congress party city unit president Arvind Shinde said, “The PMC commissioner needs to suspend the officer after the inquiry. Corruption seems deeply rooted within the PMC, necessitating urgent intervention.”
As of now, the PMC has refrained from taking any action against the sub-engineer.