HDMC house committee recommends recovery of ₹70 lakh from contractor of smart city scheme

The House Committee of Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), which was constituted to look into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the ‘Smart Healthcare’ system in the municipal hospital, has found several lacunae and recommended recovery of ₹70 lakh from the contractor of the Smart City Mission programme.

Chairman of the House Committee of HDMC and former Mayor Veeranna Savadi told press persons in Dharwad on Friday that it had been found that ₹70 lakh had been paid towards salary of outsourced staff of the Chitaguppi hospital run by HDMC, where ‘Smart Healthcare’ system was implemented under the Smart City Mission.

Mr. Savadi said that the house committee had completed the inquiry into the irregularities in the implementation of Smart Healthcare system at Chitaguppi Hospital and submitted the report with its recommendation to Hubballi Dharwad Mayor Jyoti Patil on Friday.

He said that already the office of Hubballi Dharwad Smart City Limited had been closed. “While the tender process has been conducted properly, approval has not been taken from HDMC. Of the total ₹3.26 crore grants, ₹2.4 crore has been utilised for procurement of software, printer and for other works. However the services of outsourced staff of HDMC have been utilised for maintenance. We have recommended for recovery of ₹70 lakh which was paid to the outsourced staff from the contractor of the smart city scheme,” he said.

Mr. Savadi also said that they had found several lacunae in the implementation including sub-standard medicine vending machine and others. “We have submitted our report to the mayor and recommending continuing the scheme with proper implementation,” he said.

Earlier headed by Mr. Savadi, the members of the house committee Iresh Anchatageri, Shivu Hiremath, Mayur More submitted the report to Mayor Jyoti Patil and Deputy Mayor Santosh Chavan in Dharwad.

Mayor Jyoti Patil told the presspersons that the report would be submitted to the municipal commissioner for taking appropriate measures.