News Analysis India

Tag: Indore Municipal Corporation

  • Court closes case against Vijayvargiya as MP government remains undecided on sanction for prosecution

    By PTI

    INDORE: A special court here has closed a case against BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in an alleged ‘pension scam’ at the Indore Municipal Corporation as the Madhya Pradesh government did not give sanction to prosecute him and others for 17 years.

    Complainant K K Mishra — chairman of the MP Congress’s media department — has now moved the High Court against the delay in the grant of sanction.

    Judge Mukesh Nath for a special court for cases against MPs and MLAs ordered closure of the proceedings against Vijayvargiya and others on Monday citing the lack of sanction for prosecution.

    But the complainant can move the court afresh if the government granted sanction, the judge added.

    The complaint before the court alleged that when Vijayvargiya was Indore Mayor from 2000 to 2005, the IMC paid pension to the destitute, widows and disabled persons through co-operative institutes instead of national banks and post offices as required by rules.

    Persons who were ineligible or deceased or even non-existing persons got a pension, causing a loss of Rs 33 crore to the government, it alleged.

    “By not sanctioning prosecution for 17 years, the state government has shown that it wants to save corrupt people,” Mishra told PTI on Friday.

    His lawyer Vibhor Khandelwal said they have filed a petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench against the non-grant of sanction.

    INDORE: A special court here has closed a case against BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in an alleged ‘pension scam’ at the Indore Municipal Corporation as the Madhya Pradesh government did not give sanction to prosecute him and others for 17 years.

    Complainant K K Mishra — chairman of the MP Congress’s media department — has now moved the High Court against the delay in the grant of sanction.

    Judge Mukesh Nath for a special court for cases against MPs and MLAs ordered closure of the proceedings against Vijayvargiya and others on Monday citing the lack of sanction for prosecution.

    But the complainant can move the court afresh if the government granted sanction, the judge added.

    The complaint before the court alleged that when Vijayvargiya was Indore Mayor from 2000 to 2005, the IMC paid pension to the destitute, widows and disabled persons through co-operative institutes instead of national banks and post offices as required by rules.

    Persons who were ineligible or deceased or even non-existing persons got a pension, causing a loss of Rs 33 crore to the government, it alleged.

    “By not sanctioning prosecution for 17 years, the state government has shown that it wants to save corrupt people,” Mishra told PTI on Friday.

    His lawyer Vibhor Khandelwal said they have filed a petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench against the non-grant of sanction.

  • Congress MLA says 10 homeless ‘missing’, a day after Indore civic workers’ attempt to ‘dump’ them

    By ANI
    INDORE: A day after Indore Municipal workers were caught on video trying to “dump” elderly homeless on the city’s outskirts, Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla on Saturday lodged a police complaint alleging that at least 10 of the homeless are “missing.”

    A disturbing video shot by locals showing a municipal team trying to unload homeless people off a truck parked on the side of the highway was shared widely online. It shows villagers in the Kshipra area raising a hue and cry and refusing to allow civic body workers to abandon the elderly people on the highway in the bitter cold.

    Shukla, who went to check on the condition of the old people said: “Indore Municipal Corporation took 15 people to abandon them near Kshipra but today I went there and found only four of them at the Rain Basera (government shelter). Police should investigate the matter and lodge an FIR against the accused.”

    Shukla said he has approached Inspector General of Police (IGP) Harinarayanachari Mishra and submitted a memorandum demanding that an FIR be lodged against the municipal corporation employees and officials under the charges of kidnapping as 10 people are still missing.

    Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had expressed dismay at the shocking incident and directed the district administration to take concrete action against those responsible after which the Deputy Commissioner of Indore Municipal Corporation was suspended.

    Congress leader Priyanka Vadra Gandhi had earlier in the day shared some of the videos on Twitter and said, “This incident of Indore is a blot on humanity. The government and administration should apologise to these destitute people and action should not be taken against the junior staff who were following orders but on higher ups who gave the order.”

    Meanwhile, BJP MP Shankar Lalwani said, “They have returned to their homes.”

    Lalwani said that he had also met Municipal commissioner Pratibha Pal.

    Pal said, “In the winter season, the corporation shifts the homeless to shelters. Some people readily go to these shelters but there were some who went elsewhere on their own.”

    “Yesterday’s incident is unfortunate and action has been taken against the negligence. Additional Commissioner is now investigating the case,” she said.

    The Deputy Commissioner of Indore Municipal Corporation has been suspended and two contractual employees were sacked in this connection.

  • Caught on camera: Eyeing cleanest city tag, Indore Corporation abandons elderly homeless on outskirts

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Indore Municipal Corporation is now in the eye of the storm following a series of viral videos showing an official team abandoning eight to ten aged destitute on city’s outskirts, but later lugging them back on the same truck following opposition by local residents. The incident comes in the backdrop of Indore’s attempt to win the country’s cleanest city tag for a fifth consecutive year.

    Taking cognizance of the entire shocking episode, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered the suspension of IMC deputy commissioner Pratap Solanki. Two contractual staffers who were involved in the chilling episode have also been terminated from service.

    Three videos went viral over social media on Friday, two of which showed the IMC team abandoning aged destitute near the highway despite biting cold. The video which was shot by a local resident Rajesh Joshi in the Kshipra area on Indore’s outskirts showed the IMC team throwing the belongings of the elderlies on the roadside, after alighting them from the truck.

    इंदौर नगर निगम के अधिकारी स्वच्छता के नाम पर भारी ठंड में बुजुर्गों को शिप्रा छोड़ने पहुँचे -अब अधिकारी बेचारे क्या करे वो तो भाजपा की विचारधारा के अनुरूप ही तो काम कर रहे है ?भाजपा ने भी तो आडवाणी जी , जोशी जी , यशवंत सिन्हा जैसे कई बुजुर्ग नेताओ को कब से छोड़ दिया है ? pic.twitter.com/aYc8JFmXrQ
    — Narendra Saluja (@NarendraSaluja) January 29, 2021

    In one of the videos, the voice of local resident Rajesh Joshi can be clearly heard narrating how the IMC team has brought the homeless elderlies in a truck and then abandoned them on the highway before throwing their belongings on the same road.

    A subsequent video shows the team lugging the elderlies back on the same yellow truck, following opposition and questioning by local residents in Kshipra area against abandoning the aged destitute on the highway amid the biting cold.

    “The incident happened between 2 and 2.30 pm. An IMC truck carrying around 8-10 elderlies came here, after which the staff on the truck forcibly alighted the aged people, including two to three women, on the roadside. When I asked the IMC staff why they were doing so with the homeless, the staff responded that they’ve been directed by the authorities to leave them here as they are creating trouble and filth in Indore city. Subsequently, the truck was leaving the place after abandoning the elderlies, but we forced it to return and take back the elderlies,” said Rajesh Joshi, the Kshipra resident who shot the videos.

    The opposition Congress state spokesperson Narendra Saluja was quick to tweet the videos of the spine-chilling episode which happened on Indore’s outskirts on Friday. “In the name of keeping the city clean, the IMC staff went to Kshipra (on Indore’s outskirts) to abandon the elderlies despite biting cold. What can the IMC staff do, they are acting in line with the ruling BJP’s new ideology of abandoning its veteran politicians LK Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha.”

    With the prime opposition party making the development a big political issue, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered the suspension of IMC deputy municipal commissioner Pratap Solanki, under whose supervision the work of shifting the destitute elderlies to rayan baseras (shelters) was taking place. The suspended official has been attached to the Urban Development Directorate in Bhopal.

    According to Indore district collector Manish Singh, “the CM is angry over the entire episode of the elderly being abandoned instead of getting shifted to the Rayan Baseras (winter shelters). Services of a supervisor and his subordinate have been terminated, while the deputy municipal commissioner Pratap Solanki has been suspended. The victums have been shifted safely to a nearby Rayan Basera (winter shelter).”    

    Importantly, MP’s commercial capital Indore, also the largest and most populated city in the state, has been adjudged India’s cleanest city for four consecutive years under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the city’s eyeing the coveted tag fifth time now.