Sources said that at present, Prem Chand, who is the president of the union, is heading the dhaba. Rupesh Kumar, general secretary, was earlier the incharge. Balbir Singh, who was general secretary of the CITCO union, was heading the outlet before Rupesh Kumar. The Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation is bleeding with losses as it ended up spending about 15 times more than what it earned at its dhaba-cum-restaurant, an outlet opened with much fanfare almost 14 years ago.
The balance sheet report mentions that the “dhaba is a huge loss to CITCO”. The dhaba is being run by the union leaders of the CITCO.
Sources said that at present, Prem Chand, who is the president of the union, is heading the dhaba. Rupesh Kumar, general secretary, was earlier the incharge. Balbir Singh, who was general secretary of the CITCO union, was heading the outlet before Rupesh Kumar.
The balance sheet specifies that against the meagre income of Rs 2 lakh per annum at CITCO’s “dhaba-cum- restaurant” in Industrial Area Phase I in the year 2008, the department incurred expenditure more than 15 times than what it earned, thereby suffering losses of more than Rs 15 lakh”.
The UT auditor in an objection raised on the said irregularity stated, “As per information provided to us by the official of the corporation, CITCO Dhaba is being run at Industrial Area Phase 1 for the benefit of the units located in Chandigarh.”
During the audit, it has been observed that the total sales during the year is Rs 2,25,089. However, the total expenses incurred to achieve the said turnover amounts to Rs 32,13,106, it was observed.
According to the details observed by the auditors for the last five years, the income was always between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh on average while the expenditure was almost 15 to 20 times more than the said income earned.
“It has been further observed that out of the total sales of Rs 2,25,089 for the financial year 2020-21, the sale in the month of October 2020 is Rs 94,650 whereas the balance sale of Rs 1,30,439 is in rest of financial year 2020-21. Moreover, for the sale of Rs 2,25,089, an amount of Rs 32,13,106 have been incurred resulting in loss of Rs 29,88,017,” it was specified in the report.
After specifying the five-year records, it was clearly stated that “ it is very clear that the dhaba is causing a huge loss to CITCO and therefore it is proposed to take immediate concrete steps required to be taken so that such a huge loss may be avoided in future”.
Sources stated that the dhaba is being run by the union leaders of the CITCO — and it is just to oblige them that the outlet is being run despite suffering serious losses.
There are five employees working at dhaba, out of whom three are regular employees, while other are through outsourcing.
In 2008, when this dhaba was opened, the purpose was to provide good hygienic food to the workers at pocket- friendly prices. However, post-early 2017, the sales went down and down, and the expenses went up. This dhaba was opened in a multi-purpose community centre.
A senior officer of the CITCO said, “In fact, this is the condition of such outlets. Even the outlets being run by CITCO in Sector 17’s ISBT are in deep losses. There are no checks at all by the senior officers. Even one visit by them can improve the condition of these outlets in one go.”
He added, “This sad state of affairs is because this dhaba is being run to oblige the union leaders who have been appointed as the dhaba incharges.”