NEW DELHI, Feb. 5 -- Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Devender Yadav on Thursday demanded an immediate and impartial probe into the alleged misappropriation of over Rs 22 lakh from the DTC Employees Welfare Fund, warning that a fair probe could lay bare a larger conspiracy of organised corruption in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). Yadav said that the matter pertains to the welfare of DTC employees and therefore needs to be addressed on a priority basis by the Lieutenant Governor and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. He also demanded that the guilty officials be prosecuted and that the matter be referred to the CBI for an independent probe into the irregularities in the DTC.
Talking about the financial health of the transport corporation, Yadav said that the DTC is already reeling under losses of over Rs 97,000 crore, and corruption in the employee welfare funds is only adding to its woes. He also wondered how the employees could work without stress when even their welfare funds were being misappropriated.
He claimed that corruption and irregularities have become widespread in DTC because of the absence of strong vigilance mechanisms. He said that the post of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) in DTC has been lying vacant for more than five years. Instead, the charge has been assigned as an additional responsibility to a departmental officer, which goes against the grain of effective vigilance.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.