Lokmat News Network
Aurangabad, April 30:
Sensation has prevailed in the Town Planning section of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) after its incharge deputy engineer, Sanjay Laxman Chamle, was caught red-handed by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) while accepting a bribe of Rs 3 lakh on Friday evening. Chamle’s arrest became a talk of the town, especially amongst the builders lobby, since yesterday evening.
Chamle, since his appointment as the sectional engineer, is functioning in the Town Planning section only. He was made incharge deputy engineer of the town planning section recently. The shortage of staff also prompted the AMC to give additional responsibility by appointing him as the head of the Gunthewari Cell. The Satara-Deolai areas also fall in his jurisdiction. The proposals relating to sanctioning of layouts, building permissions, occupancy certificate etc were being released upon his orders only. The residents were disappointed with his style of functioning.
According to sources, there are 1427 proposals lying pending for approval in the Gunthewari Cell. Of which, 70-80 per cent are submitted by Satara-Deolai residents. Sensation prevailed after the arrest of Chamle in his section. His colleagues and the agents or touts are panicked. Meanwhile, few former office-bearers are trying their best to settle the issue at the earliest.
TP section and touts
There is a major intervention of the touts in the Town Planning section.The agents and touts are so active that they could be seen moving freely in section meeting with the sectional engineers, deputy engineers, handling office files, taking files from almirahs for xerox copies etc.Moreover, there is also a saying that if any disputed file is moved through the agent then the file is likely to be approved soon.
What is most surprising is that to maintain transparency in TP section, the AMC accepts the proposals online.However, these agents were having online passwords.Now, the system has been stopped on the order of the government.