BBMP ward health officer could be making up to a crore a month

Guess how much a ward health officer of the BBMP could be making every month for showing “official favours” to hoteliers and shops? If the Lokayukta sleuths are to be believed, he could be making a staggering Rs1 crore, an amount which would put most top IT honchos’ salaries to shame.

This shocking piece of information came to light when a Lokayukta team trapped Chikkanna, health officer of Maruthiseva Nagar ward, while he was accepting `14,000 as bribe from a bakery owner for issuing a trade licence.

While laying a trap to nab Chikkanna, Lokayukta officials were expecting to seize only the bribe amount of Rs14,000 from him. However, he was found in possession of hard cash worth `3 lakh, whose source he could not explain.

Chikkanna had demanded bribe from the owner of a bakery to issue a trade licence. He had originally demanded Rs35,000, but agreed to settle for Rs29,000. The complainant, KM Arun Kumar, had earlier given him Rs15,000. After Chikkanna got his trade licence approved, he demanded the balance. Kumar reported the matter to Lokayukta police, who laid a trap to catch Chikkanna accepting bribe red-handed.

When the Lokayukta police nabbed the health officer and checked his pockets, they were astounded to see that his pockets were filled with wads of cash, totalling `3 lakh. He could not explain the source of the money.

Lokayukta officials suspect that the amount was his “under-the-table earning” of the day. The officials said that if he makes `3 lakh a day illegally by getting trade licence approved, he might be making close to `1 crore every month. He could be collecting the amount from eateries and hotels on the pretext of inspection, the officials said.

Officials working with the corruption watchdog suspect that each corrupt BBMP official is worth `40-50 crore. They said a detailed investigation into their assets might unearth multi-crore scams.

BBMP chief health officer KE Manjula said the department had received an oral complaint against Chikkanna and it was forwarded to the joint commissioner for his perusal.
Manjula clarified that the BBMP was collecting trade licence fees, but it was accepting payment only through demand draft and not by cash. She declined to comment on reports of rampant corruption in the department, stating that she had not received any such information officially.

HN Sathyanarayana Rao, additional director general of police, said Chikkanna had been booked under Prevention of Corruption Act and remanded in judicial custody.