Graft alleged in purchase of waste collection vehicles

Jaipur: Chairperson of Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC)-Greater finance committee, Sheel Dhabai, has been alleging corruption in the recent purchase of waste collection vehicles for three zones of the civic body. Dhabai said that these vehicles were purchased without any approval of the finance committee.
She said that the vehicles were flagged off for waste collection without even allotment of numbers in respective wards. This month, waste collection vehicles were flagged off by mayor Somya Gurjar for three zones, Jagatpura, Sanganer and Jhotwara. A total of 122 waste collection vehicles have been flagged off in these three zones.
“A task that was pending for many months, how can it be completed within one month in three zones of the civic body? Tenders were issued, then work order was also issued, without any approval from the finance committee. Where is the money coming from for these projects?” asked Dhabai.
“Almost Rs 12 crore for three zones of Mansarovar, Vidhyadhar Nagar and Sanganer was kept in the general body meeting for approval, which I opposed. Why should the general body of the corporation approve such large funds, without even knowing what the rate quoted by the company is and what we are comparing it to?” said Dhabai.
Somya Gurjar defended herself, saying, “As per norms, projects costing less than Rs 5 crore must go through the finance committee. In this case, when I got the files, I approved them stating that process as per rules must be followed. This was forwarded to the team that makes the agenda, without officials or even me noting the mistake. As soon as we got to know, those were removed from the agenda. Whenever the finance committee calls a meeting, these points will be discussed and further action will be taken.”