After reports of alleged ‘rampant corruption’ in the transport department, the Delhi government on Saturday announced the suspension of three senior officials in its transport department.
These officials include S Roy Biswas, Deputy Commissioner, Manish Puri, Inspector, and Anil Yadav, UDC. They have been placed under suspension with immediate effect following a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for alleged irregularities in distribution of Letters of Intent for new autorickshaws.
Later, deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the matter would be handed over to CBI. “The matter would be handed over to CBI. This govt can not tolerate corruption at any level,” Sisodia tweeted.
The matter would be handed over to CBI. This govt can not tolerate corruption at any level.
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) December 26, 2015
“On December 23, I received some complaints about irregularities in issuance of Letter of Intents (LOIs) to auto drivers at Burari Authority of Transport Department, following which I held a meeting with Joint Commissioner (Transport) and other senior officers in the next day, and issued directions to enquire into the matter,” Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai was quoted by PTI.
A senior government official said that Kejriwal had received text messages from some autorickshaw drivers complaining of irregularities in distribution of Letters of Intent on Friday evening. This according to the official, prompted the chief minister to call up his transport minister Gopal Rai, who said that the matter was already brought to his notice.
The transport minister claims he had already made preliminary enquiries in the matter and found out two types of irregularities — The LOIs were issued on pick and choose basis despite his orders to follow chronological order and that the LOIs were being handed over to certain intermediaries/unauthorized persons instead of the beneficiaries/applicants, the official said.
The government has also scrapped all 932 LOIs issued by the transport department till date and putting on hold the exercise of issuing LOIs, said the official.