MC to recover cost from salaries of councillors

CHANDIGARH: The MC authorities have decided to recover the amount spent on the expensive trip of the councillors to the Andaman Islands by deducting the amount from their salaries. MC sources said: "There is no other way to recover the loss suffered by the corporation."
The tour - which took place from August 31 to September 9 last year - had triggered controversy due to overshooting of the sanctioned expenditure, and family members of several councillors joining the trip, taking the total delegation up to 40 from the approved 26.The corporation had reportedly spent Rs28 lakh on the tour. MC commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh told ToI: "There is no other way to fulfil all the losses suffered by MC authorities due to the expensive study tour. Instead of telling councillors to pay up the money, we will deduct it from their salaries. The review proceeding will be completed shortly."
In the tour, councillors reached Chennai on September 1, and on the third, they left for Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, which had no relevance to the tour. On September 5, the group left for Havelock Island in the Andamans, which has no civic body. In the island, the group visited several beaches and enjoyed boat rides. BJP councillor Asha Jaiswal had taken along her daughter and that of BJP's Mahila Morcha president for the tour. BJP councillor Arun Sood took along four family members - his wife, two children, and a niece. Congress councillor Sheela Devi was also accompanied by her daughter, while the councillors who had taken along their spouses were Satish Kainth, Gurbax Rawat, Poonam Sharma (all from Congress), Gurcharan Das Kala (BJP), MP Kohli and Babu Lal (both nominated).