4 KSRTC officials suspended for battery cable scam

Tag : Cables Battery

BANGALORE: Four senior officials from the Chikmagalur division ofthe KSRTC have been suspended following a reported scam in thepurchase of battery cables and causing a loss of over Rs. 6 lakh tothe corporation.  Sources in the corporation told The Hindu that Managing Director A.P. Joshi passed the orders, suspendingDivisional Controller (head of the division) Adish, DivisionalMechanical Engineer Yashvanth Kumar, Accounts Officer Kottari andStores Officer Chandramouli.

The scam revolved around purchase of more than 3,500 metres ofbattery cable. While the product was available at Rs. 114 in themarket, it was purchased by the Chikmagalur Division at Rs. 291 ametre, the sources said.

Purchase of new battery cable was necessitated after KSRTC decidedto make its buses fire-retardant. The decision was taken after afew buses of the corporation, which were parked inside the depotsin Bangalore, caught fire without anyone’s intervention. Thecorporation then decided to have GI sheets for roofs instead of AVSsheets for all its new buses and keep the battery cut-off switchesin working condition to avoid any accidental ignition.

It was in this background, the divisional-level officials placedorders for the purchase of battery cables. Unofficial sources,however, claim that the loss suffered by KSRTC amounts to more thanRs. 20 lakh in Chikmagalur alone. These sources also mentioned thatthe stores officer in Chikmagalur was being made a scapegoat by thehigher-level officials in the scam. There were also reports of asimilar scam from KSRTC’s Tumkur division.

The corporation’s security and vigilance wing has alreadylaunched an investigation into the scam and based on initialreports, the four officials have been suspended, the source said.