BMC spends Rs 64 lakh on car repairs!

This is a lsquocarrsquonama that rings all the wrong bells in our mind For quite some time now the money spent on the maintenance and repair of the cars given by the BMC to some of its employees has raised questions about the mismanagement of funds In the last three years July 1 2012June 30 2014 the civic body has managed to spend close to R64 lakh on the maintenance of 27 cars Surprisingly in some cases the cost of the repair and maintenance exceeds the cost of the vehicleMoney mattersThe car provided to the Public Health Committee Chairperson was bought at a cost of R459 lakh but in the last three years the administration has spent Rs 477 lakh on the maintenance and servicing of the car Similarly the car provided to the Child and Welfare Committee Chairperson was bought for Rs459 lakh but maintenance bills have come upto Rs 470 lakhThe BMC has spent a similar amount for repairing the Law and Revenue Committee Chairmanrsquos car The Logan was purchased for R459 lakh but maintenance and service costs in the last three years have come upto R463 lakh These revelations came to light when Additional Municipal Commissioner BMC Mohan Adtani demanded to know the amount which the civic body spent on these repairs The transport department of the BMC submitted the maintenance and service data for the last three years to himMisuse of fundsApparently misuse of official vehicles provided to key people in the BMC has been reported several times Overuse of the vehicles has led to frequent need for servicing Substandard servicing has further led to the vehicle being taken to the garage more often leading to an increase in the money spent on repairsLast month Adtani suspended Assistant Engineer Sudhir Parkare of Solid Waste Management Transport division when his car broke down on the way to the office An amount of R60000 had been recently spent on its upkeep Parkare was in charge of the municipal garage that takes care of the maintenance of these vehicles He was suspended allegedly due to negligence found in the maintenance of the vehicles and increasing number of complaints against him with regards to the sameHowever the civic body reinstated him and transferred him to A ward Enquiry against him is pending A few days ago Adtani had also transferred executive engineer Sunil Godse from the transport department and initiated an enquiry against him regarding mismanagement of fundsAs a rule these cars should be phased out after every 10 years but many of these vehicles are still in use A senior officer from BMC on condition of anonymity said ldquoThe maintenance cost has gone really high We get frequent breakdown complaintsrdquo A few months ago Leader of Opposition and Congress corporator Devendra Amberkar had complained about regular breakdown of his car As a mark of protest Amberkar went home by taxi after which the administration replaced his carOfficials sayldquoI have ordered a departmental enquiry against engineers responsible for the maintenance At present the preliminary enquiry is on which will be completed in the next two months Then we will be able to find out who are responsible for such wastage of moneyrdquo said Adtani