The department has no records to substantiate what were the materials and supplies!
Like Nitya, many from her and other colleges volunteered to be civil warden.
Bengaluru: At 19, Nitya (name changed), wished to contribute to make her society a better place and registered to become a civic warden. She was trained as a nurse to give first-aid to accident victims.
“I had seen many people die due to unavailability of first aid. When ambulances did not arrive on time, patients paid a price. I tried to contribute in my own way,” she recalls. Her willingness to volunteer even earned her Rs 175 per day. Like Nitya, many from her and other colleges volunteered to be civil warden. But now, due to the attitude of the Home Guards and Civil Defence departments, thousands of students are shying away from volunteering.
The reason: wardens became victims of their causes! They go unpaid for years and do not even get allowances for travel and food, which they are entitled to. These wardens have not received allowances for the last two years, while the department claims otherwise. Financial irregularities have taken a toll on many of the department’s programmes, while officials claim to be ‘clueless’ on how the money is spent. According to the documents available with Deccan Chronicle, since 2005, the department has no record or account of the money allocated and spent by the department. RTI responses to queries on department’s expenses seem exorbitant!
The department claims to have spent Rs 3.34 lakh on office expenses, while it has spent Rs 1.57 lakh on fuel in March 2014. It says it has given Rs 79,830 as DA in February 2014, while wardens have not received any allowance for the last two years.
For a department whose expenditure on supplies is nil from April 2013 to February 2014, in just 30 days, the expense has shot up to Rs 5.97 lakh! Surprisingly, the department has no records to substantiate what were the materials and supplies!
“Even after several attempts, the officials refused to answer any questions related to finances. ‘Information not available with the department’ was the only reply we received,” say Raghu B.V and Arpuda Rajan, RTI activists, who are fighting for the cause of wardens.
Wardens allege that the money allocated for them and other department expenses is credited into the account of chief warden P.R.S Chetan, from here it is supposed to go to wardens. “But the funds are being diverted into other accounts and there is manipulation of accounts,” said a warden.
( Source : dc )
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