Patna Municipal Corporation team confirms fake sanitary staff

PATNA: The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has finally been able to solve the mystery of the fake sanitation worker on PMC roll. Smelling something fishy, PMC commissioner Kuldip Narayan had formed a probe team comprising deputy municipal commissioner Rajiv Ranjan and New Capital Circle executive officer Vishal Anand to find out if fake sanitation workers existed in different wards of the civic body.
Sanjay Prasad Yadav, who as per the attendance documents is a sanitation worker in ward no 4 and has been receiving salary from October 2011, in reality has never come to work.The inquiry report, which was released on Friday, says Yadav is a close aide of ward councillor Abhalata and it was because of her direction that he had been receiving salary unhindered even without working.
The existence of such fake workers in the PMC, including Yadav, had come to light during the then state urban development and housing department (UDHD) secretary, Sandeep Poundrik's surprise visit to ward number 4 in June, 2014. He had found around 50% of the sanitation workers absent while almost 90% of them were marked present in the register. On being informed about the incident, the PMC commissioner suspended the sanitary inspector in charge of the ward.
The UDHD secretary, during his visit, had also found Yadav absent from duty that day. Poundrik also expressed doubt that Yadav was a sanitation worker and thus relieved him from duty immediately. However, it was found that Yadav was marked present on several days even after the secretary's visit. PMC commissioner Kuldip Narayan said it was later found that Yadav owned a liquor shop near Ramnagari Mor on Digha-Ashiana Road.
In an inspection by the committee, Yadav was found to be absent. The report quoted sanitation inspector in charge Nishat Ahmad and former sanitation inspector in charge Asharfi Ram as saying that Yadav was backed by Abhalata. Though he never came to work, he was marked present. Contacted, Abhalata said all the allegations were false and that the inspectors were forced to give such a kind of statement. "Since I have filed a case against him (PMC commissioner) in the high court, he is taking revenge and trying to frame me," she said.