Chirmiri mayor used govt fund in shares, punish him: Cong

Raipur, March 03, 2012

Congress on Saturday demanded from ruling BJP to take punitive action against Chirmiri Municipal Corporation’s (CMC) mayor Damru Behra for his alleged investment of government fund in shares.

“Behra has apparently misused Rs 2.50 crore to get financial benefit. He is a professional agent and advisor of UTI and he invested this whopping fund meant for Gaurav Path project in Chirmiri in shares of UTI. However, he could not succeed in his intent as the share prices fell sharply and the municipal incurred loss of Rs 15 lakh. Besides, the municipal also incurred a loss of Rs 25 lakh, the amount it would have received as interest if Rs 2.50 crore had been kept in its bank account. Strangely, despite all evidences proving Behra guilty, the government is trying to save him,” said PCC spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.

“The urban Administration Minister Amar Agrawal says that departmental inquiry would be conducted against the former municipal commissioner but has not uttered anything against Behra,” he said.

“The municipal could have kept Rs 2.50 crore in any of the nationalised bank as a fixed deposit (FD) if it was unable to spend the amount for the given purpose but the mayor had no right to invest it in shares,” he added.

He informed that Rs 2.50 crore was withdrawn in two parts from the bank. “First, the CMC commissioner Pramod Shukla withdrew Rs 50 lakh from the bank in August 2010 and invested the fund in UTI shares. After Shukla’s transfer, incharge commissioner RP Sonkar withdrew Rs two crore and invested the amount in UTI shares again,” Shukla said.

He further pointed that the municipal commissioner was authorised to withdraw only up to Rs 10 lakh in 2010 and had to obtain approval from the Mayor-in-Council (MiC) for withdrawal of amount up to Rs 50 lakh while approval of general body for withdrawal of fund beyond Rs 50 lakh.

“But first commissioner Shukla and then incharge commissioner Sonkar withdrew the funds violating municipal norm. This happened only on directives of CMC mayor Behra. Still, the government is ignoring the glaring irregularity he had don and sparing him,” Shukla said.

He also sought explanation from former Urban Administration Minister Rajesh Munat for posing mysterious silence over the episode for about 18 months. He alleged that the ruling BJP only targets elected public representatives of Congress on false charges but barely takes action against its own people holding responsible posts and are involved in major scams.