Nagpur Municipal Corporation takes the job of keeping its top officials happy very seriously. A few months back it came to light that
mayor Maya Iwnate had five peons deputed to her office. Now, it has been revealed that municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta leaves her far behind in the race for more peons. Thanks to RTI, NMC has been forced to reveal that the civic head has 14 NMC peons at his beck and call - 11 staffers at his residence for personal work while three peons are assigned for official work at NMC headquarters.
As per the reply given by NMC municipal commissioner's office to the answer sought under Right to Information Act (RTI) by a vigilant citizen and member of Jansamsya Sangharsh Niwaran Samiti, Rajendra Gangotri, 11 NMC staffers are deputed at the official bungalow of Aseem Gupta for personal work. The employees deputed there are Gautam Mishra, Balsingh Bista, Sarubai Uike, Shravan Uike, Shailendra Wanjari, Shankar Kapse, Anil Sontakke, Prashant Ramteke, Varsha Patil, Sujata Waghmare and Mahendra Damanwar. These employees work in two shifts at the commissioner's bungalow, the reply added.
Rajendra Gangotri told TOI, "These 11 employees draw salaries in the range of Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 per month (totalling to over Rs 1 lakh a month). This is a sheer waste of public money for the benefit of one person. They have nothing to do throughout the day, except serving the big boss and his family."
Aseem Gupta had landed in a controversy recently after his cell phone bill for a month was billed at Rs 1 lakh. Gupta could not be contacted on Thursday despite several attempts.
Additional municipal commissioner (general administration) Prakash Bokhad refuted to comment on the issue. However, a senior NMC official said on condition of anonymity, "As per government directives there is no need for more than one peon at the office and residence. NMC is wasting manpower just for the sake of the ego of top functionaries."
TOI had recently exposed that the civic bosses and office bearers in the municipal corporation are ranked by the number of peons they have at their disposal. The mayor has five peons, deputy mayor Kishor Kumeria has four peons while leader of opposition and NMC standing committee chairman have three peons each. NMC sources inform that over 50 peons have been spared for various office bearers.
Moreover, with the model code of conduct in force for the assembly polls, the peons deputed to the office bearers have nothing to do during the entire day, and they sit idle for hours together. The mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee chairman are hardly ever present in their cabins these days, however, the peons are required to be present in their respective benches or chairs, whiling away the time, NMC sources said.