Scam allegation: Uproar in NDMC House, mayor sets up another panel

The mayor of the BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation today set up a panel, after Congress and AAP councillors protested in the civic body’s House demanding CBI inquiry into allegations of financial irregularities in some of its projects, officials said.

The allegations of financial irregularities was levelled by by a former senior civic official.

Senior Congress leader and leader of the party in the House Mukesh Goel alleged that the new panel was just an “eyewash” and an attempt to “shield some of the senior civic officials and BJP leaders”.

Goel, other Congress councillors and AAP members protested in the House demanding CBI inquiry into the case.

Later, in a statement, he said the allegation of irregularities levelled by the former official are “serious” and the case should be probed by the CBI.

Renu Jagdev, a former additional commissioner of the civic body, had submitted the complaint to North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta on May 18, mentioning “financial irregularities” in projects such as the one related to the Rani Jhansi Grid Separator (flyover).

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had rejected the charge, even as the mayor had set up a three-member panel, which was “asked to examine all the points raised by Jagdev and submit its report within one month positively”.

The members of the committee are S K Bhandari, IAS, Additional Commissioner (Engineering), U B Tripathi, Additional Commissioner (DEMS) and Deepak Purohit, IPS, Chief Vigilance Officer, the statement added.

A senior civic official today said the previously constituted committee would submit the findings to the new five-member panel.

“The members of the new panel include, NDMC Standing Committee Chairman Tilak Raj Kataria, Mukeh Goel, and councillors from AAP and BJP,” he said.