5 days ago
Vadodara: Day after head of fire department, two other officers suspended over ‘scam', new appointees take charge
A day after Vadodara Municipal Commissioner Arun Mahesh Babu ordered the suspension of three officers, including Head of Department of Fire and Emergency Services Dr Devesh Patel, Chief Fire Officer Manoj Patil and Deputy Fire Officer Naitik Bhatt, the new officers appointed to the positions took charge on Wednesday. While Harendrasinh Chauhan has been appointed as the Chief Fire Officer, Amit Chaudhary has been given the charge of Deputy Fire Officer.
The new appointments came a day after the suspensions of the three officials, including Dr Patel, who was also the Medical Officer, Health. The charge of the same has now been handed over to Dr Mukesh Vaidya. The suspensions came after an alleged scam in procurement of tools and items needed by the fire department came to light. Although the purchases were made by way of the government's e-marketplace portal and also passed through the Third Party Inspection (TPI) agency and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation's auditing department, besides the Standing Committee, officials said that the inflated prices 'went unnoticed'.
An official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that several items in the tender, including whistles, lighters and mosquito nets had been bought at a cost of over Rs 3,500 each, for which tenders had been invited in February and March this year. The total procurement amount was Rs 3.17 crore for 16 pieces each of pocket knives, gas lighters, whistles and other tools.
'While a departmental inquiry is underway to ascertain how the discrepancy was not raised by the TPI and the auditing committee, the VMC is already staring at an internal controversy with the new appointments as those fire officials, who were hopeful of getting the posts vacated by Patil and Bhatt, have already sounded a rebellion… The fact is that no one pointed out the inflated cost of the items listed in the procurement list,' the official said.
