The suspected outbreak of enteric in ward 129 of Behala has highlighted the lack of financial control over tax-payers money. For mayor, Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, today alleged local councillors have spent almost Rs 2 crore, allocated specifically for building a new canal in the area, on other purposes. Last Saturday, a meeting of civic officials held in the office of borough 13 and 14 had revealed the irregularity. According to reports, Rs 2 crore had earlier been sanctioned for the creation of a temporary canal from Diamond Harbour Road to the Chorial Canal. The temporary canal would have helped to drain water from several areas of Behala. The canal was never built. According to the mayor, the councillors have spent the money on trivial issues like de-silting and road repairs. When contacted, Mr Bhattacharyya said: "We had allocated special funds for the two most affected boroughs of Behala ~ 13 and 14. However, the money has been spent on trivial issues. It is completely undesirable.' Water-logging in Behala has been a perpetual problem for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities. The situation has worsened with Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP) carrying out work in these areas. Following last year's deluge, when almost all of Behala was submerged, the mayor had met with local councillors and residents of the area. After hearing their grievances it was decided to allocate Rs 2 crore for partial relief to the water-logging problem. It was not be. Incidentally, today's alleged outbreak of enteric was because of the water contamination. The reason being that the tube-wells of the area were completely submerged following last week's deluge. The canal might have brought some temporary relief, civic officials feel. Calling the mayor's allegations a blatant lie, Ms Ratna Sur, chairman Borough 13, said: "All money was spent with the prior approval of the municipal commissioner and the mayor. Any amount of more than Rs 10 lakhs cannot be dispersed without proper authorisation. Several chief engineers have also overseen the work at different times. How can the mayor put the blame on the local councillors now?'