No more than a Kitty Party club for HPCL wives
Uday Shankar has not given up on his mission to highlight the alleged misuse of public money at oil and gas PSUs.
This time, the former working president of HPCL's officers association is targeting a club for the wives of Hindustan Petroleum’s top executives. On May 20 (2024), Shankar wrote to the CBI with copies marked to the PMO and HPCL chairman Pushp Kumar Joshi, highlighting alleged irregularities at the "HP Shakti" club.
"This HP Shakti club is nothing but an instrument for housewives of corrupt top management and senior officials so that they can enjoy public money in the name of social service," alleges Shankar. He claims that the company's chairman and directors are busy with their jobs, and their wives started this initiative to keep themselves occupied.
"An alternative has been thought, and HP Shakti club has been made functional," he writes. But Shanker alleges the club has become an "alternative power structure" and a mechanism to manage "favourable transfers, postings and promotions."
Shankar acknowledges the club was initially formed for social service. "But it is a kitty party (social events) club," he claims.
He accuses the wife of a director of threatening officers with poor ratings and transfers if their wives do not participate in club activities. He also alleges that the wives, while pooling some funds for social service, spend much of the club money on travel, food and snacks at the HR department’s expense.
"For doing social service worth a few thousand rupees, HPCL spends lakhs of rupees just for the sake of the wives’ enjoyment," he claims. During 2023-24, Shankar claims the wives club visited Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Delhi and Chennai.
"On women’s day (March 8, 2024), a Bollywood theme function was held in Mumbai where the company spent crores," he alleges. Shankar adds that if social service is the main motive, HPCL should have a club for non-management executives' wives and a club for retired HPCL officers' wives.
When contacted, an HPCL spokesperson said: "I am unaware of the letter, so I can't comment."