Corruption allegations rock Jagtial Municipality

Metro India News | JAGTIAL

Jagtial Municipality is facing renewed allegations of corruption and administrative irregularities after a series of financial and governance lapses came to light. The latest controversy, involving the alleged forgery of the Municipal Commissioner's signatures on property assessment copies, has prompted the District Collector to order a detailed inquiry.

According to officials, inspections revealed several suspicious financial transactions within the municipality. Repair cheques were allegedly issued in the name of an Assistant Engineer instead of authorised service agencies, in violation of financial norms. Officials also detected suspicious digital transactions linked to the mobile phones of certain municipal officials, raising further concerns over financial transparency.

The latest allegations come on top of irregularities that were previously exposed during inspections conducted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Vigilance authorities. Those investigations reportedly uncovered large-scale financial mismanagement, misuse of municipal funds, poor tax collection, tampering of official records, and irregularities in granting house building permissions and approvals for new ventures.

One of the major findings of the ACB inspection was the municipality's poor property tax collection. Against a collection target of Rs. 17.19 crore, the municipality collected only Rs. 8.95 crore, resulting in a shortfall of Rs. 8.23 crore. The findings raised serious questions over revenue administration and financial accountability.

The inspections also revealed that four municipal auto-rickshaws have been missing since 2022 and a municipal tractor has been untraceable since 2020. Despite the disappearance of these government-owned vehicles, neither police complaints nor reports to higher authorities were filed, officials noted.

Further irregularities were found in the management of municipal commercial properties. Officials identified that rents from 194 municipal shops have been collected at outdated rates for nearly 18 years without inviting fresh tenders. The failure to revise lease rates is believed to have caused significant revenue losses to the civic body.

Authorities also pointed to serious negligence in the collection of advertisement tax, resulting in additional revenue leakage.

With allegations ranging from forged documents and suspicious financial transactions to missing municipal vehicles, revenue shortfalls, record tampering and administrative negligence, Jagtial Municipality is facing mounting scrutiny. The repeated exposure of irregularities has severely dented the civic body's credibility, with the Collector's latest inquiry expected to determine responsibility and recommend action against those found guilty.