Mumbai: State government forms committee to probe 25 years of BMC finances

Each department annually submits at least 7,000 to 8,000 finance-related documents. File Pic/Ashish Raje

The state government has formed a committee comprising three senior officials to scrutinise the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) finances over the last 25 years. However, this task appears daunting as the committee needs to review approximately 7 to 8 thousand papers per year per department. Senior civic officials anticipate the committee will primarily focus on investigating major departments such as Roads, Bridges, Water, and Sewage. This committee will compile an audit report, and the state government plans to publish a white paper next year.

A senior BMC official stated that each department annually submits at least 7,000 to 8,000 finance-related documents. Excluding hospitals, there are around 40 departments. Reviewing each document would be extremely time-consuming if the government decides to pursue this approach. The state government has already conducted audits of all local self-bodies, and the Comptroller Auditor General has also audited the BMC, the official further added.

According to the official, it's possible that the state-appointed team will focus on departments like Roads, Bridges, Coastal Road, Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project, Stormwater Drainage (which includes river-widening projects), Solid Waste Management (including waste dumping projects), and the Zoo Expansion Project.

Civic Chief I S Chahal informed mid-day that BMC has not yet received any communication regarding the investigation. Meanwhile, BMC completed internal audits until 2015-16 and targets finishing those up to 2017-18 within a month. "This ongoing internal audit aims to identify discrepancies in BMC accounts," the official said.

As per BMC protocol, following the submission of the audit report to the standing committee, the BMC administration is expected to respond to the auditor's observations. However, for more than two decades, BMC has not submitted such replies. The department compiled 10 fund code audit reports, each spanning 150 - 175 pages. Every year's audit report totals 1,500 to 2,000 pages.