BAREILLY: Bareilly mayor Umesh Gautam and 50 others, along with civic body councilors, had been booked after a video showing the mayor pulling and dragging a business enterprise went viral on social media on Monday. The mayor had accused the environmental engineer-cum-appearing city fitness officer, Sanjeev Pradhan, of becoming concerned with corruption. Addressing a press conference at Bareilly Nagar Nigam on Tuesday, the mayor said complaints have been pouring in from livestock proprietors that they had been charged hefty fines to get their livestock released when they have been determined to stray on city roads.
Speaking to TOI, Gautam stated, “Taking cognizance of people’s lawsuits of being charged hefty fines, I’d already issued guidelines to reduce the amount to Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000, the use of the mayor’s discretionary energy, and asked for the livestock to be released from the stray farm animals haven, Kanha Pashu Ashray Grah, after giving the owner an appropriate warning. However, it has come to my word that the respectable involved have endured hefty fines from cattle owners and demanded a bribe to launch the animals. Some have even alleged Pradhan has threatened to impose a flat Rs 5,000 quality on all animals, huge or small if the proprietor refused to pay the bribe.
The controversy erupted after a video on social media showed the mayor barging into the municipal commissioner’s office, accompanied by some corporators. They can be visible yelling at Pradhan and dragging him out in complete public view. Afterward, an FIR was lodged in the case below sections 147 (rioting), 332 (voluntarily causing harm), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 353 (crook pressure to discourage public servants from duty) of IPC. Reacting to the video, Gautam said, “After receiving numerous court cases, I went to the municipal commissioner’s office to warn the BMC professional that corruption received’t be tolerated.
Municipal commissioner Samuel Paul N said, “An enforcement pressure to trap stray cattle throughout the metropolis is underway. The UP government has issued strict instructions to ensure homeless animals are taken off roads, dispatched to shelters, and penalized their owners before liberating them. An excellent of Rs 3,000 in line with a small animal and Rs five 000 in line with a massive animal is likewise being levied in keeping with NGT guidelines. Some individuals don’t want to pay the penalty, but we’ve not imagined launching the animals. No extra money has been levied on their proprietors.
Reacting to the mayor’s allegations, the town’s performing health officer, Sanjeev Pradhan, informed TOI, “Legal actions have been being undertaken as consistent with regulations and regulations. The enforcement, such as slapping of consequences, is being finished under the municipal commissioner’s steering. The allegations of corruption and graft leveled in opposition to me through the mayor are completely baseless. Since the mayor’s reaction is unacceptable, a case has been lodged against him and others. Geetesh Kapil, the inspector of Kotwali police station wherein the FIR was registered, said, “An FIR has been lodged towards Mayor Umesh Gautam and 50 others, including 25 councilors.