Hall rented 31 times doesn’t exist on paper

NEW DELHI: Over the past two years, some municipal officials pocketed lakhs of rupees by letting out a new, air-conditioned community hall in Shakti Nagar, north Delhi, that had not been operationalized. Sources say the building — constructed at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore during 2008-11 — was rented on the sly at least 31 times without North Delhi Municipal Corporation's knowledge. The hall, in fact, did not exist in municipal records.

The scam came to light two weeks ago after a BJP function there on July 21. When a resident checked about the booking procedure, officials said they weren't aware of the hall's existence. "Seeing the hoardings of BJP's 'Karyakarta Sammelan' planned at the hall, the man asked about the online booking procedure. We checked but the hall isn't listed online," said Ashok Bhasin, president, North Delhi Residents Welfare Forum.

Insider siphoned proceeds, admit corpn officials

"The Civil Lines zonal officials told us the corporation's engineering department has not handed over the hall to the community services department (CSD), which looks after bookings," said Ashok Bhasin, president, North Delhi Residents Welfare Forum. "Yet, more than 30 functions have been held there. It means the officials were bribed to hold functions," he added.
Officials, however, told TOI the hall was handed over to the community service department in February this year but the rent has not been finalized. Rates for ordinary community halls vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000, with location and the facilities offered. "We haven't fixed the rates of airconditioned halls but they will be on the higher side," said YS Mann, spokesperson of North corporation. Even at the lowest rate of Rs 5,000, the 31 functions would have earned the corporation Rs 1.55 lakh.

Corporation officials admit that an insider siphoned off money. "When the engineering department built the hall, there were some shortcomings and CSD refused to take it over. We were clueless about the functions," said PK Gupta, commissioner, North corporation. "We accept that there were irregularities from our side and the official incharge wasn't clearing the file. This official retired three months ago but we have ordered an inquiry and the money will be recovered. The official will face stringent action and the hall will start functioning officially by this weekend," he added.

The opposition leaders are not satisfied with this explanation and have demanded action. "It's a BJP-led corporation and they booked the hall, but whom did they pay?" said Mukesh Goel, leader of the opposition in North corporation.

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