In a major breakthrough, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has suspended the transfer of more than 160 engineers in different departments for a short period on allegations of a “cash-for-transfer” racket. This has been done after RTI activist Anil Galgali and Mumbai BJP President Ameet Satam approached Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani with complaints. The allegations made are that bribes between \u20b95 lakh and \u20b940 lakh were paid for favorable postings and promotions in the civic body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allegations and Complaints<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RTI activist Anil Galgali and BJP leader Ameet Satam have lodged a complaint with the BMC that senior BMC officials were involved in running a transfer racket, where contractors reportedly paid kickbacks to get some engineers transferred to particular jobs. Satam named additional municipal commissioner Amit Saini particularly as being part of the scam. He alleged that contractors were “managing” the transfer of officers who were not favourable to their interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On this, Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani issued a stay on all transfers. According to him, any irregular transfers would be cancelled, while transfers that were done as per the rules would go on. Gagrani urged transparency and fairness in the transfer process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Official Denials and Reactions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Municipal Commissioner Amit Saini refuted the charges, stating that transfers were done strictly on merit and administrative grounds. Saini hinted that the complaints could have been a result of vested interests disappointed with the transfers. Saini further stated that he was presently on election duty in Bihar and couldn’t say anything more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former city engineer Mahendra Ubale is said to have distanced himself from the transfer process because of pressure to sanction transfers that did not make sense. Ubale’s move out indicates the internal conflict and hassles within the BMC over the transfer system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Political and Public Response<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The charges have set up a political storm, with opposition parties urging a full-fledged investigation into the issue. They have attacked the ruling party for having allegedly promoted a culture of corruption within the civic body. The public has also cried out for the credibility of the transfer process, urging more accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calls for Reform<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RTI activist Anil Galgali demanded an independent and transparent committee to monitor all the future transfers in BMC. He said that the “transfer market” has to be put to an end and postings and promotions have to be made solely on the basis of merit and public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision of the BMC to postpone the transfers has been viewed as an attempt to tackle the allegations and restore public confidence. However, the success of this action will be based on the result of the current review and on whatever action follows to mend the cracks in the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As probes go on, everyone’s eyes will be on the BMC so that justice is meted out and such a thing does not happen in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a major breakthrough, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has suspended the transfer of more than 160 engineers in different departments for a short period on allegations of a “cash-for-transfer” racket. This has been done after RTI activist Anil Galgali and Mumbai BJP President Ameet Satam approached Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani with complaints. The allegations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[597,596],"class_list":["post-3150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bmc-suspends-transfers","tag-cash-for-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3152,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3150\/revisions\/3152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebombaydurpun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}