Vijayawada: Cracking the whip against ‘misuse’ of official staff, Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) commissioner P Srinivasulu has recalled several civic body staff who were deputed to work at the mayor and deputy mayor’s residences. About 32 employees were found attached to mayor Kavati Manohar Naidu and deputy mayor Vanama Balavajra Babu (Diamond Babu), who have been withdrawn following a ‘revolt’ by civic body officials over the functioning of the YSRCP leaders.
The commissioner’s decision comes in the backdrop of officials boycotting last week’s GMC council meeting after the deputy mayor, who is also the YSRCP city wing president, levelled allegations against them. The govt is also learnt to be contemplating to disqualify Diamond Babu as corporator for his “baseless allegations” against officials.
Srinivasulu had asked all heads of departments (HoDs), including the superintending engineer, city planner, and chief municipal health officer to submit details of outsourcing employees in their respective wings and where they are presently posted. After going through the preliminary reports submitted by the HoDs, the commissioner detected that about 240 ‘employees’ were being paid salaries without any location or posting.
“I am trying to cleanse the system since the day I joined as commissioner. It is my duty to protect the precious resources of the civic body as we are spending huge amounts towards payment of salaries to outsourced employees,” said Srinivasulu. He said the deployment of 32 people at the residences of the mayor and deputy mayor was “illegal and unethical”.
There is no provision to deploy three security guards at the residence of the mayor, he said, adding that the other deputy mayor, Sk Sajeela, has three personnel at her service and she has agreed to surrender all of them. “Surprisingly, deputy mayor Diamond Babu has been utilising the services of 15 people for his personal work,” he added.
The GMC commissioner further said that he is also looking into the complaints of senior officials against the deputy mayor for threatening them. “Senior officials told me that the deputy mayor has been summoning them to his chamber and threatening them to produce official documents. There is no need to submit any reports to the deputy mayor as per the law. The officials are only accountable to the council and the govt,” he said. The commissioner is also looking into the misuse of official vehicles by the mayor and deputy mayor.
