Nagarani’s suicide exposes rampant corruption in Khammam Municipal Corporation

The suicide death by Arempula Nagarani, 35 years, an outsourcing sanitation worker, exposed the rampant corruption in appointing outsourcing workers in Khammam Municipal Corporation. Nagarani, who consumed glyphosate (applied in the fields to check the weed) for using filthy language by assistant municipal commissioner on her died on Monday while undergoing treatment in Hyderabad after failure of two kidneys. She was shifted to Hyderabad for better treatment but in vain. Magistrate took her statement in the hospital.

An outsourcing sanitation worker post allegedly costs Rs 1 lakh in Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC) and there is a queue to get the posts by paying the bribe to the middlemen. The officers concerned are violating all rules in appointing these workers to fill vacancies. For instance, Raju left the outsourcing job in KMC five months after he got a job at district court. There is a procedure to fill up the vacancy by the officials. They have to inform the Mahatma Gandhi Town-Level Federation (MGTLF) and ask them to issue a notification to fill up the post. The commissioner of the Corporation had no power to fill up the post without consulting the MGTLF. But, the officials have not been following the norm.

Nagarani approached his senior sanitary jawan (a little bit higher rank than sanitation worker) to give the vacancy post to her relative and the jawan demanded Rs. 1 lakh for it. She paid the amount to her. The jawan took the issue to the notice of the Assistant Municipal Commissioner (AMC), who assured to do the favour to her. The appointment was delayed by five months and Nagarani exerted pressure on sanitary jawan, who, in turn, took her to AMC. The AMC used filthy language against Nagarani. Then, she tried to commit suicide by jumping down the KMC office  building shouting “I was upset with the behaviour of the official.’ The fellow workers stopped her attempt and she consumed glyphosate the next day.

The officials of KMC have been making use of a special modus operandi to create vacancies. Deccan Chronicle unearthed various scams of KMC officials earlier. They used to harass the sanitation workers on petty reasons and forced them to leave the job on their own and the same post will be given to others by taking bribe. Ramakrishna, a sanitary worker, committed suicide recently because of this. The post will be filled with the persons who gave money to them. The workers like Sravanthi, Ramu and Sudarshan were among those who tried to get the posts by paying money.

A source in the KMC said, “The officials filled 100 posts without following the rules. Lakhs of rupees changed hands in the deal”.