BHOPAL: Believe it or not, at least 15 employees of the commercial tax department of Madhya Pradesh have mysteriously disappeared between 2005 and 2021. In a reply to a question by ruling BJP MLA Yashpal Singh Sisodiya during the monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha (that was adjourned sine die on Thursday two days before its stipulated end), the state’s cabinet minister for finance and commercial taxes Jagdish Devdainformed that 15 employees of the commercial tax department have been untraceable/are unduly absent from work between 2005 and 2021.
These untraceable employees have been posted in the state capital Bhopal, the state’s commercial capital Indore and other districts, including Neemuch, Rajgarh, Mandla, Chhindwara, Narmadapuram, Sagar and Jabalpur. Among them, an office assistant posted at the office of the commercial tax commissioner in Jabalpur has been unduly absent from duty/untraceable since November 2005, while an Assistant Grade-III posted at the commercial tax commissioner in Indore is the latest one, who is untraceable since July 21, 2021.
Three employees each have been unduly absent from duties in 2018, 2019 and 2021, followed by two since 2015 and 2020 and one each since 2005 and 2011.
According to Yashpal Singh Sisodiya, who is the third time BJP MLA from Mandsaur seat of Mandsaur district, “the most surprising reply given by the government is that neither a public information about the missing or unduly absent employees has been flagged nor any cases have been registered.”