Khammam Municipal Corporation will go bankrupt soon

KHAMMAM: The way Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC) is being run, there are fears of it going bankrupt soon. The local body annually earns ₹ 27 crore in the form of property taxes and ₹ 9 crore as rents, water charges and by way of land regularisation. However, its expenditure has been increasing year on year and is now ₹ 45 crore per year.

Sources say KMC’s outsourcing department with 925 workers has a salary bill of ₹ 18 crore per year. However, only 750 of them work, while 175 of them just sign attendance registers and collect their salaries. . Nearly ₹ 3 crore are being wasted this way. It is said the job of 10 outsourcing employees in town planning department is to just collect kickbacks on behalf of officers who give permissions. 

On record, the bill for diesel consumed by the corporation is ₹ 3.4 crore per year. ₹ 50 lakh of amount in this account is being swindled.

The enforcement committee of the corporation – comprising tehsildar, fire officer, executive engineer, circle inspector and municipal commissioner – to check irregularities with regard to corporation’s assets, is not working well.

This committee remained a silent spectator when people started grabbing KMC’s land in Nehrunagar. Most of these land grabbers are retired and present municipal employees themselves. Though illegal constructions are rising on the municipal lands, no measures are being taken to protect them.

Further, none bothered when the corporation lost ₹ 4 lakh as demand drafts of this amount related to mutation of properties had not been deposited into KMC’s account within the stipulated time. No action has been taken against the employee responsible for this. The person is on deputation to the municipality from public health department.

Amid this, KMC has bought 50 air-conditioners to fit in the new building of the corporation. They are five times more than those fixed in the old office. These AC units are being fixed even in rooms of clerks. An official, on condition of anonymity, said: “KMC is already paying ₹ 12 crore as power bill per year. This bill will only increase with the number of ACs rising. Funds of the corporation should be spent judiciously. In fact, KMC will have surplus funds if extravagance is checked.”