NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will probe the political allegiance of the ‘parking mafia’ running its nexus at the Sarojini Nagar market, sources told this newspaper. Besides, the council will also check for corruption purported by its staff who have been supporting the unauthorised vending and illegal parking business at the market, they said.
Chief Vigilance Officer Garima Singh has been given the responsibility for this task. “The Chief Vigilance Officer of the NDMC has been asked to probe whether the parking mafia is supported by any political party. We have some information about the mafias having a connection to AAP,” a senior NDMC official said.
The move has come after an inquiry by the CBI where it found several officials from the enforcement wing guilty of corruption. The officers took money against providing unauthorised vending space to the vendors, sources said.
In the past, the authorities have implemented several measures to sort out unauthorized vending and illegal parking but nothing work out so far. A pass system was introduced for hawkers to limit their entrance to the market. However, officials said that the council has not conducted a survey in the last three years to identify legal vendors in the market.
The move to find out the political allegiance, indirectly accusing AAP, was discussed in a council meeting held on Thursday where Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, also an NDMC member, was not present.
The council meeting happened the day after it was deferred on Wednesday following heated scenes where BJP members accused Kejriwal of “political tourism and alliances” at a time when the Capital was flooded, and the AAP accused the BJP of turning the meeting into a “political battlefield”.