Pimpri Chinchwad dog sterilisation probe report missing four years after scam allegations

Four years have passed since allegations of a scam running into crores of rupees over dog sterilisation were made against the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). New questions are now being raised about the inquiry, as the investigation report is said to be missing. No firm action has been taken so far. This has raised questions about the working of the municipal commissioner's office and the vigilance department.

The dispute centres on the claim that contractors were paid for sterilisation surgeries that may never have been carried out. The irregularity surfaced in November 2021, when former mayor Yogesh Behl raised the issue at a meeting of the corporation's general body. The matter became a major political controversy across Maharashtra. The late Ajit Pawar had also levelled serious allegations against the ruling BJP during the civic election campaign. The then municipal commissioner, Shekhar Singh, had assured the house that the vigilance department would investigate and action would follow.

The most significant allegation relates to the period between March 23 and August 8, 2020, when a strict lockdown was in force. Behl alleged that during this time PCMC's veterinary department recorded sterilisation surgeries on 7,125 dogs, even though most people were confined to their homes and all routine activity had come to a halt.

The claim raised the question of how thousands of dogs were caught and operated on during the lockdown. It was also asked whether the surgeries recorded in official papers had actually taken place. A detailed inquiry and action had been demanded then. Four years have passed without a result, and the reported disappearance of the inquiry report has now added another layer to the controversy.

The vigilance department itself is under scrutiny. Why was the inquiry not completed within the stipulated time and its findings made public? If a report was prepared, how did it go missing? There are also allegations that some vigilance officials may have been in collusion with contractors and that records were altered or removed to suppress the findings. Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikrant Bagade was approached for a response, but could not be reached.

PCMC's veterinary department had floated a tender worth Rs 3,29,81,376 for 12 months and split the work among several organisations. The organisations named in the report are the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Latur; Jeevraksha Animal Welfare Trust; Janice Smith Animal Welfare Trust; and Animal Welfare Association, Navi Mumbai.

Youth Congress secretary Swapnil Bansode has demanded a high-level inquiry into these four organisations and the officials concerned. He has asked for the probe to be conducted by the CBI or the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Another issue is a discrepancy in the records of the weight of biomedical waste. According to the report, the records of PCMC's veterinary department, the organisation that performed the surgeries and Pasco, the agency that collected the biomedical waste, do not match. The discrepancy merits examination, but on its own it does not establish how many surgeries were performed, nor does it prove that records were deliberately falsified.

Basic questions remain unanswered. How many dogs were actually sterilised during that period? How were the contractors' bills verified? And what happened to the inquiry report that the municipal administration had promised? PCMC will have to clarify the status of the inquiry, account for the missing documents and make the findings public. It must also ensure a fair and independent inquiry into the allegations against officials and contractors.