Rs 25 crores embezzled in 30 years at HDMC

hubli: a sum of rs 25 crore embezzled in 30 years at the hubli-dharwad municipal corporation. adds up to a little less than rs 1 crore a year. this was from 1961 to 1992, when the hdmc did not take up much development activity. the hdmc commissioner opened a pandora's box with his startling revelation that truckloads of unaudited files of the last eight years have piled up.questions are now being asked as to what the ``gross misuse'' has been in these years, when crores were allotted for infrastructure development. taxpayers are wondering how many of these crores have lined the pockets of officials. `accountability' has become the casualty in the civic body as no action is initiated to recover the money from these officials though the controller of state accounts has issued notices in this regard. officials who were allegedly involved in the scams have retired from service and many have died. sources revealed that a few hdmc staff members who are at the fag end of their service are putting spokes in the wheel of investigations. the issue gains prominence following the ``illegal contract'' scandals rocking the hdmc recently. the hdmc released rs 22 lakh for a benami contract company, for work not taken up at all. when the case was referred to the police, two people connected with the case committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. no police case was filed over the rs 9-lakh scandal, for which similar modus operandi was used, though the hdmc council passed a resolution to hand over the case to the police. officials pointed out that the hdmc is bound to reply to these notices issued by the state accounts department and if it fails, it would be assumed that the civic body has accepted the fraud charges. first, it was made clear during the auditing that rs 6.39 crore had been misappropriated and the accounts department wanted action from the hdmc to recover the funds. then it was revealed that there was no sanction, proper billing and related records for rs 18.80 crore. it is this department which takes up the hdmc audit books. after the amendment to the kmc act in 1994, a separate auditing section was set up at the hdmc under the state accounts department, but work has come to halt without adequate staff. chief auditing officer galammanavar of the hdmc doubles up as additional accounts officer of the karnataka university too. when contacted, he told times news network that 13 staff members have been sanctioned to carry out the auditing, but there is no one from the sad. the show is managed by only four members attached to the hdmc accounts department, he said, adding that even they are not available as the hdmc deputes them on other duties. the officer has written to the controller of state accounts on the need to increase staff strength to take up pending auditing work for the last eight years. highly placed sources in the hdmc revealed that audition of the accounts of 1992-93 is going on, but hdmc officials are not cooperating. though notices have been served to the heads of various departments of the civic body, no proper records are being provided nor are the officials concerned presenting themselves for inquiry, the source added. working for the hdmc, it appears, was lucrative indeed.