Mt. Abu municipal official axed over work irregularities

Jodhpur: The state government removed municipal commissioner of Mt. Abu, Ram Kishore, on Saturday for alleged irregularities in work done during his tenure.The action came on the heels of CM Bhajan Lal Sharma’s visit of Abu Road on Saturday following complaints against Kishore by local BJP leaders.Director of Local Bodies (DLB) issued the order on Saturday to put Ram Kishore on APO and also set up an inquiry against him, the report of which is to be submitted to the DLB in 15 days.SDM of Mt. Abu has been given additional charge of municipal commissioner.Complaints against him pertained to issuance of lease deeds arbitrarily, construction permissions in violation of the rules and directions of NGT and financial irregularities.It may be noted that Mt. Abu has been notified as an Eco Sensitive Zone with no construction permission in the prescribed limits of this hill town of the state.During his tenure while many citizens denied even necessary repairing permissions in their houses by the commissioner, influential persons were given impunity to not only repairing but renovation and adding floors to the buildings, specially hotels.Limdi Kothi, one such hotel, hogged the limelight for brazen violation of the rules surrounding the Eco Sensitive Zone with an alleged support of the municipal commissioner. Belonging to a Congress leader, the hotel was turned from a dilapidated structure to a full-fledged functional hotel during the tenure of the commissioner.While this construction at the hotel progressed unabated under political patronage, some residents of the tourist town had to sit on ‘dharna’ for the permission of repairing, unavoidable in nature, in their respective houses.According to sources, there is a check on entering of any kind of construction material in Mount Abu, and if necessary, it has to have permission from the municipality, and that also for minor repairs of unavoidable nature.“But for this hotel, truckloads of construction material entered the town and renovation as well as fresh construction continued,” said Virendra Singh, a BJP office bearer.Kishore also faces allegations of issuing lease deeds without modification of the Zonal Mater Plan as per the directions of the NGT.