The Bharatiya Bikash Parishad organised a anti-corruption rally against some high-level officials of Ganjam district here on Saturday.
A large number of people, including social workers and senior citizens, led by Parishad State president Surendra Panigrahi holding anti-corruption placards moved to the RDC office where they submitted a comprehensive memorandum, addressed to the Governor and the Chief Minister. The Parishad also submitted a copy of the memorandum by Post to the President, the Central Vigilance Commission and the Chief Justice of India for necessary action.
Among others, the Parishad demanded investigations into the gross irregularities and corrupt practices of the Ganjam Urban Transport Services Limited (GUTSL), informed Panigrahi.
If the Government fails to conduct an impartial investigation, the Parishad would intensify agitation, said Panigrahi.
The BeMC and its three adjoining NACs had received Government grants to systematically develop communication infrastructure in the region. To implement the projects, the local authorities incorporated a public limited company, “Ganjam Urban Transport Services Limited (GUTSL)”, in 2013. The company was vested with the then district Collector, SP and a band of OAS officers who grossly misused their official power as reflected in the audit report, the memorandum claimed.
The memorandum mentioned names of eight officers who, among others, then were actively involved in the matter. Quoting the extract of the audit report, the memorandum mentioned, “such an act of corruption may be viewed seriously in the light of the several dictums of the Apex Court which described such corrupt practices by misusing the official power as issue of utmost vitality and in view of this the matter needs an impartial probe to unfold the truth.”
The memorandum also demanded to include the present district Collector in probing the matter as he is not handling the matter diligently to curb out the corrupt practice.
During FY 2014-15, the company run the vehicles and earned revenue of Rs 2.48 crore against Rs 2.97 crore spent towards fuel and employees. In FY 2015-16, the company purchased 38 buses at Rs 20 lakh per bus and the operational loss of each bus was Rs 6.68 lakh in the same year. All these were revealed in the audit records, the memorandum claimed.