The Trinamul Congress has demanded high-level inquiry into alleged misappropriation and mis-utilisation of over Rs 5 crore by the Congress-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) board earlier.

The party further alleged that the present Left Front-run board, which had “helped” the erstwhile board to run, failed to take steps regarding the corruption.

Ruling out the allegations, Siliguri mayor Asok Bhattacharya, in turn, demanded that audit reports of the Siliguri Jalapaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) for the years between 2011 and 2013 be made public.

“There had been largescale corruption when the Congress was at the SMC helm. The board was then running with support from the Left. An audit was conducted and reports were published in 2014, which stated that there was misappropriation of more than Rs 5 crore. The reports were at the public domain–available on the corporation website until a month ago, but later, they were removed from the website. Why has the present board not conducted any probe? We are demanding high-level investigations to unearth the truth,” said the leader of the Opposition at the SMC and Trinamul Congress councilor, Ranjan Sarkar.

He said the reports mentioned the period between 2008 and 2013. The Congress had in 2009 run the SMC board with outside support from the Left Front. Later, the Congress joined hands with the Trinamul in June 2011.

However, the goings-on between the two parties were never smooth, with the Trinamul accusing the then Congress mayor Gangotri Datta of failing to perform. Trinamul Congress pulled out of the board in March 2013, reducing the Congress board to a minority. Ms Datta resigned on 20 May, 2014.

As the mayor’s post remained vacant, a three-member board of administrators was appointed on 14 August the same year at the SMC. The Left Front won the civic body elections in 2015 and is running the board.

“There was corruption to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore in the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme and the rest of the amount was embezzled in cash. We will write to the state government, urging it to initiate the probe,” Mr Sarkar told a press conference here.

He said there was corruption at the trade license and electricity, and building plan departments presently. “We have identified around 500 illegal buildings under the corporation and submitted the list before the board. But the board is not willing to take steps against those and encouraging corruption,” the Trinamul leader said.

Siliguri mayor Asok Bhattacharya, meanwhile, said they were welcome to demand investigations. “People of Siliguri know the volume of corruption the SJDA was involved in between 2011 and 2013. An audit was conducted during that period, but the reports were never made public. The reports should be made public first,” he said.

A CPI-M member of the mayor-in-council said Trinamul Congress was part of the board with the Congress for more than one-and-a-half years. “Had corruption taken place during that period, then why did it not raise the issue back then?” he said.