Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Conning Govt. merrily

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD April 3. Come summer vacations. It is time for fun, leisure and travel. Time to take the family out on LTC (leave travel concession).

For the Hyderabad-based man in Government service, the most favoured tourist destination is the distant Icchapuram in Srikakulam district. Similarly, employees in Adilabad prefer Tirupati and vice versa. The logic is simple. The distance between Hyderabad and Icchapuram is longest.

The sad aspect of this welfare measure is its wide misuse, causing huge loss to the exchequer. The CAG report for the year ended March 31, 2001, and the 9th report of the Lok Ayukta & Upa Lok Ayukta (1993), both presented to the Assembly last week, highlight the misuse and the role of drawing and disbursing officers in the racket.

A check of LTC vouchers in respect of 34 offices in Education department and 22 offices in Home department in 9 districts for June 1999-December 2000 showed fraudulent claims to the tune of Rs 28.65 lakhs in 631 cases. The modus operandi varies from production of manipulated xerox copies of computerised railway tickets, travelling in a non-existent class of accommodation, to submission of fake printed receipts etc. However, only Rs. 9.97 lakhs was recovered from the staff of Education department and Rs. 1.46 lakhs from those in Police department till September 2001. Deterrent steps like recovery, denial of the facility for life and disciplinary action were not initiated by the controlling officers, the CAG report noted.

The Upa Lok Ayukta report illustrates a more serious, if old, case from Nalgonda district where the local fund audit officers allegedly cleared fraudulent LTC claims by employees of the local bodies to a tune of over Rs. 3.43 crores without proper check. The verification of the LTC bills showed that on a single day, May 11, 1991, no fewer than 1,116 travelled from Hyderabad to Icchapuram by first class in Konarak Express and some by Narsapur Express from Nalgonda to other places!

The report said that the controlling officers -- headmasters, MDOs, concerned officials in ZPs and Local Fund officers -- were responsible for the colossal misuse. They not only winked at the fraud, but could also be party to it. The report said discreet enquiries showed that 30 to 35 per cent of the amounts were retained "for being distributed to the controlling and drawing officers.''

The report suggested that employees might be given lump sum amount by way of bonus in lieu of the much-maligned facility.

Verification of records in some offices showed instances where the beneficiaries availed family planning incentive on the one hand and listed 6 to 8 children as dependents for the purpose of LTC claim.

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