Hyderabad: The prime source of illegal money for staff in the GHMC sanitation wing is trade licences and appointment of contract workers. The town planning department has always been a money spinner for corrupt staff, say sources.
Now, raids on sanitary inspectors has revealed crores of illegally amassed money in this wing too. A major share of money is made in bribes taken to allocate contract jobs and commercial licenses.
The ACB, for the second day in a row, raided a sanitary inspector and dug out Rs 3 crore worth assets. A job of a sanitary inspector is to ensure that his area is clean.
A source in GHMC said, “The job of the sanitary inspector or supervisor is that he / she is solely responsible for sanitation and trade licenses. The inspector, who works under a licence officer, will issue trade licenses to all commercial establishments after it is approved by the license officer. Sanitary responsibility includes controlling sanitary workers, attendance, dust binds, sweeping and more. Each commercial establishment (including hotels ) must have a trade licence, failing which GHMC has the authority to close the establishment. Trade licences run in crores of rupees depending on the business of establishment, additional fees for generating garbage too is collected.”
The salary of a sanitary inspector ranges between '30,000 and '50,000 based on seniority. The inspectors also report to the medical officer of each circle of the GHMC.
However during former GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar’s tenure, following complaints on corruption, all powers of sanitary inspectors were withdrawn and the job to issue licences was handed over to the officer only.
ACB DSP V. Ravi Kumar, who raided a GHMC tax inspector and unearthed '5 crore worth illegal assets said, “Tax inspectors collude with building owners and impose less taxes after taking bribes. A sanitary inspector plays a major role in appointing sweepers on contract , a certain percentage from the sweepers’ salary is given to the inspector.” There over 27,000 contract workers with the GHMC.
GHMC sanitary supervisor has Rs 3 crore assets
The ACB on Wednesday found Rs 3 crore worth of assets with a sanitary supervisor of the GHMC. ACB officials raided the house of V. Krupadanam at Alwal and seized gold, cash, and documents related to his properties. They also raided houses of his relatives and friends in the city. The officer works with the GHMC’s north zone at Secunder-abad
ACB officials said that a case of disproportionate assets was registered against the officer. They are also investigating allegations that Krupadanam had joined as a sweeper and was acting as a sanitary supervisor by producing fake education certificates.
“During the searches, two G+2 residential houses, seven house plots, 12 acres of agriculture land, net cash of Rs 1.30 lakh, bank balance of about Rs 3.80 lakh, 500 gram gold and 500 gram silver, one car and two two-wheelers were found,” said an ACB official.
