The Bangalore Metro Rail Employees Union has alleged that Rs 40 core of Namma Metro is getting lost due to discrepancies in management, financial irregularities and special treatment to contract employees, Economic Times has reported. A cause of huge inconvenience for the riders, the union had struck work for seven hours last year in protest.
“Namma Metro need not wait for ridership to touch five lakh a day to break even. It can report a profit if the management takes the initiative to fix a few anomalies,” said Surya Narayana Murthy, vice-president of the union and former employee of Namma Metro.
Further, he suspects a scam in payment of monthly bills for private cab companies which pick and drop officials for on-site inspection. “For years, the BMRCL has been spending Rs 50 lakh a month towards payment to the cab agencies. How could the monthly bill be so huge when there are only 50-odd site-officials?” questioned the vice president.
Murthy cites data from documents obtained through RTI, which show the can rental costs at a monthly-average of around Rs 50 lakh. Namma metro has 1,230 regular employees working as loco pilots, station managers and more while other works such as construction and housekeeping are outsourced. ‘Why does Namma Metro hire 769 contract employees?’, questioned Murthy.
BMRCL has hired 500 contract employees without requirement likely with irregularities in requirement process, alleged Murthy. Also, promotion of employees are also not structured, with some employees are promoted with an exorbitant hike in pay due to influence from higher officials, he added.
Further, he alleged financial irregularities in allotment of retail spaces, advertisement and parking management at stations. Managing director of BMRCL, Ajay Seth has decided to discuss the matter with the union.