NAGPUR: Elected representatives may be allowed to purchase ‘official’ mobile phones using public funds but many corporators overstep their “entitlement” raising questions about the practice of purchase allowance for office-bearers.Information obtained by TOI reveals how elected representatives succumb to the temptation of purchasing expensive mobile phones , though a committee of general administration department (GAD) has laid entitlement of between Rs5,000 and Rs20,000 for the purpose.According to the decision taken by the finance and contract committee, a corporator was earlier entitled to a mobile phone worth Rs20,000. The committee, however, has been more generous with some of the office-bearers.Corporator Narendra Borkar was among those who made full use of his “entitlement” and more. When Borkar was the standing committee chairman, he had bought a phone and the civic body paid Rs50,000 for it. Last year, the then standing committee chief Ramesh Shingare bought a mobile phone worth Rs49,990 using public money.The list doesn’t end here. Deputy mayor Munna Pokulwar procured an expensive smart phone worth Rs44,500. Another deputy mayor Sandeep Jadhav too spent Rs39,710 of taxpayers’ money to buy a smart phone.The committee has permitted corporators to retain the phone on payment of a ‘depreciated amount’ which works out to 60% of the original cost. Sources said many prefer to retain the phones by paying the depreciated amount.In all, 26 elected representatives had spent around Rs3.13 lakh on purchasing mobile phones. Of them, only six corporators, including Shingare and Pravin Bhisikar have cleared their bills. Bhisikar bought a smart phone worth Rs9,850 and paid Rs3,940 after a depreciation of 60% of the original cost. Similarly, Shingare and Pokulwar too preferred to keep the expensive phones and paid Rs19,996 and Rs17,800, respectively.Shockingly, well-to-do corporators like Dr Uma Gathibandhe, Dr Safalta Ambatkar, Manisha Ghodeswar, Lata Yadav and Avinash Thakre too bought a mobile phone worth between Rs4,900 and Rs5,000. NIT trustee and BJP corporator Bhushan Shingne too had claimed a mobile phone worth Rs4,874. The civic body calculated the depreciation amount of 26 mobile phones to Rs1.21 lakh.“So many corporators, who availed the expensive phones, preferred to pay the depreciated amount which is peanuts. In this process, they get expensive phones by paying 40 % of it,” said a senior NMC official.A senior officer from GAD clarified that earlier there was no upper limit, but now Rs20,000 has been fixed for mayor, standing committee chairman and municipal commissioner, while Rs15,000 for additional municipal commissioners. Corporators who are holding charge of any committee will be entitled to get a mobile phone not over Rs5,000, he said.“The power to spend money on buying mobile phones should be used judiciously. At the end of the day, it is public money. There should be a proper regulation on this to check that every year hefty amounts are not spent on lavish mobile phones,” said a civic activist.