Timekeeper cheats MTC crew, suspended

Sources at the MTC headquarters said that the staff, Balamurugam has been working as a timekeeper at Tiruvallur bus stand that falls under Poonamallee depot. When MTC buses enter Tiruvallur municipality, the MTC has to pay entry fee to the civic body for providing space for the buses.

“Each MTC bus should pay Rs 8 to the timekeeper, who in turn would pay the local body. The MTC is operating 60 buses to Tiruvallur from the city depots,” said an official. As per this calculation, the timekeeper would receive Rs 480 per day.

“However, we sensed that each conductor paid Rs 20 to Balamurugan. This led to a decline in the total collection.

When we checked the entry receipts, it was found that Balamurugan collected Rs 20 for each bus,” said a source.

This amounted to Rs 720 per day. They conducted a surprise raid and caught Balamurugan red-handed while he was issuing fake receipts to the conductors.

“We issued a memo and suspended him. Enquiry revealed that he had been doing this since January,” said a senior MTC official.

“The management should order a thorough probe into this misappropriation,” said a union member.