Thiruvananthapuram: Corporation to launch anti-corruption drive

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The civic body is set to launch an anti-corruption campaign in the corporation main office and zonal offices.
Mayor Arya Rajendran said here on Tuesday that the zonal office-based campaign will begin at Sreekaryam zonal office on Friday.
“Any issues related to the corporation can be brought up during the campaign. Even if it is regarding previous applications, the public can present it again. The corporation’s higher authorities and representatives of standing committees will directly take part in the campaign,” said Rajendran.
The token distribution will begin at 9am.
The mayor also appealed to the public to note their name, address and contact number clearly in the applications.
Campaigns will be held in other zonal offices in the following dates: Vizhinjam (Aug 10), Nemom (Aug 12), Vattiyoorkavu (Aug 17), Thiruvallom (Aug 19), Kudappanakunnu (Aug 23), Fort (Aug 25), Ulloor (Aug 27) and Attipra (Aug 29).
The campaign at Kazhakkoottam and Kadakampally zonal offices will be held on September 15 and 16, respectively.
The corporation had lost Rs 32.96 lakh due to fund fraud in zonal offices.
The incident came to light when the charge officer reported a delay of one month in depositing Rs 1.74 lakh at Sreekaryam zonal office.
Further, the audit showed that an amount of Rs 5.12 lakh collected over six days between January 22 and July 6 at Sreekaryam zonal office was not reflected in the corporation account. At Nemom zonal office where the biggest fraud was committed, Rs 26.74 lakh was missing. The civic body has recommended to the director of urban affairs for initiating a major penalty against the staff placed under suspension.
Recently, data entry operators were terminated from the service after buildings without occupancy certificates were given building numbers.
The mayor also said that the design of the gender neutral bus stop proposed in front of College of Engineering, Trivandrum, has been finalized and would be inaugurated by this month-end.