MARGAO
A day after suspending the LDC for defaulting in depositing revenue amounting to Rs 17.44 lakh into the Municipal treasury, Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar has ordered a probe, but the million dollar question that has come to haunt the civic body -- how to recover the money from the erring staffer?
For, there’s clamour from the citizens as well as from the Council chief Damu Shirodkar for the recovery of the amount at the earliest.
Questions are also being raised whether the probe ordered by the Chief Officer will not only come out with the exact reality how the money was collected by the LDC in his account, but the role of officials who are supposed to keep a track of the revenue collection.
The MMC Chief Officer told The Goan that he has asked Municipal engineer Deepak Desai to conduct an inquiry into the episode how the LDC transferred the revenue from the Purumentachem fest fair into his account and how the episode escaped the attention of the officials.
To a question, the Chief Officer said the it has now come to light that the LDC owes around Rs 17.44 lakh to the civic body. “I have told the LDC to deposit the amount in the Municipal treasury immediately before the civic body goes for criminal proceedings”, he said.
Asked what are the options left with the Municipal council in respect of the recovery of the huge amount when the suspension and police complaint will not bring back the money, the Chief Officer said he would tell the accounts section to check the PF balance of the employee. “Since the LDC has maintained that he had deposited the amount in his personal bank account, we expect the police to get the amount released from the bank since the employee had fraudulently diverted the Municipal revenue into his account”, he said.
To a question that the LDC was also working as a PA to him just outside his chamber, Sankhwalkar said the LDC was not his PA, but was handling the cases coming up for hearing before him.
