Nagpur: Financial oversight in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) appears to have virtually collapsed, with audits in the majority of its 22 departments pending for six financial years from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Official records show that for 2022-23, audits were completed in only three departments — market, enforcement and water works — raising serious questions about monitoring of NMC expenditure and revenue during a period marked by repeated allegations of irregularities.The six-year period coincides with the administrator’s rule in the civic body from March 2022 to January 2026, when there were no elected representatives in the corporation. During this period, former corporators and political leaders repeatedly accused the administration of irregularities in multiple departments, including awarding works to contractors quoting up to 40% below estimates and later increasing project costs by adding extra items, alleged irregularities in DPDC-funded works, and questionable decisions in garden and sports departments.The documents accessed by this newspaper were obtained by senior BJP corporator and lawyer Sanjay Balpande, who has alleged that the prolonged delay in auditing key departments points to a deliberate attempt to shield irregularities. He claimed that if financial scrutiny had been carried out on time, several controversial decisions taken between 2018-19 and 2023-24 would have been exposed much earlier.The communication issued by the NMC audit department states that audits across most departments — including property tax, general administration, town planning, health, education, electrical, garden, social welfare and fire services — remain pending from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Even the crucial accounts and finance department has not completed its audit for this entire period, with officials stating that the audit from 2018-19 to 2023-24 is still underway.The situation at the zonal level is equally alarming. Out of 10 zones in the city, audits in six zonal offices — Hanuman Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Gandhibagh, Satranjipura, Lakadganj and Laxmi Nagar — are still under process. While the accounts department claims that audits of four to five zones from 2018-19 to 2023-24 have been completed, the documents clearly state that the final consolidated audit report has not yet been issued because the overall audit process remains incomplete.The Laxmi Nagar zone audit was reportedly affected due to elections, though officials have claimed that the audit for 2022-23 and 2023-24 has now been completed. Four other zonal offices — Dharampeth, Dhantoli, Ashi Nagar and Mangalwari — have completed audits for only one financial year, 2022-23, leaving a long backlog.Balpande said the delay cannot be dismissed as a routine administrative lapse. “When audits in more than 20 departments and most zonal offices are pending for six years, it clearly indicates that the administration is trying to avoid accountability. Audit is the only mechanism through which financial irregularities are detected,” he said.The documents also reveal a severe staffing crisis in the audit department, with only nine employees working against 57 sanctioned posts. However, Balpande argued that the vacancies have existed for years, and no serious effort was made to fill them, suggesting that the delay in audit work may have been convenient for the administration.With civic finances already under pressure and multiple departments facing allegations of irregularities, the revelations are likely to intensify political confrontation in the general body and put the administration under pressure to explain why financial scrutiny was ignored for so many years.
