MC building inspector caught taking bribe

LUDHIANA: The day was full of embarrassment for the municipal corporation as one of its building inspectors, Baljit Singh, was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 in his office by a team of vigilance, headed by SP flying squad Ravcharan Singh Brar.Brar said that Baljit Singh had demanded Rs 30,000 from Sukhdev Singh, who is constructing his new house in Mata Kolan Kaur Colony on Taj Road. Instead, Sukhdev Singh, who was not willing to pay the hush money, contacted the president of Anti Corruption NGO Ramesh Bhangarh that later resulted in arrest of Baljit Singh in his office. Sukhdev Singh, who is constructing his new house, did not secure the necessary document before the construction work took off. Thus officially, it is an illegal construction. According to Sukhdev Singh, Baljit Singh came to the site of the construction a number of times and threatened to raze the illegal construction. He also abused the labourers at the site.Sukhdev Singh is constructing a double-storey building, with ahall on the ground floor. Sukhdev Singh had plans to use this hall to supporthis dairy business to which Baljit Singh objected.Sukhdev Singhsaid, ??Baljit Singh was not serious about the implementation of norms butinterested in paying bribe to us. He offered us to pay Rs 30,000 bribe to avoidRs 1 lakh fine in the wake of violation of norms.??However, SukhdevSingh said he was not ready to pay the bribe amount and he decided to approachthe vigilance. Baljit Singh called Sukhdev Singh to pay the first instalment ofbribe at his office where accompanied with the Vigilance team, Sukhdev Singh andhis son Malkit Singh reached. When Baljit Singh was receiving the amount, he wascaught red-handed by the Vigilance team.Brar informed in the pressconference that FIR had been registered against Baljit Singh and he would beproduced in the court on Tuesday.