Plea for probe into misuse of Tambaram corpn funds

CHENNAI: A petition has been filed before the Madras HC for a direction to order an enquiry over the misappropriation of the funds in the Tambaram Municipal Corporation for spraying disinfectants during the COVID-19 period in 2020 and 2021.

The petition was filed by Nanjil C Manoharan, a BJP functionary and the president of Makkal Pasumai Iyakkam. The petitioner sought direction to order an investigation against the Tambaram Municipal Corporation Commissioner and the principal secretary to the municipal administration department.

According to the petitioner, he made a representation to the corporation under RTI Act to know the expenses spent for the spraying disinfectants during the COVID-19 period. Initially, the information officer of the corporation did not provide any response.

Therefore, he approached the State Information Commission and got a direction to the corporation to disclose the amount spent for the disinfectant spraying works.

“Even though the commission passed directions to the corporation, the information furnished by the corporation was not clear. It is clear that several lakhs of the fund were misappropriated in the Tambaram Municipal Corporation from 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 in the name of spraying disinfectants for containing COVID-19 spread.

The public money was utilized without awarding any tender and the names of the companies which did the works were also unavailable, “ the petitioner submitted.