Hindustan Times: Pune: Tuesday, September 24, 2013.
One of the
first reports on alleged financial irregularities in irrigation projects
submitted in 1999 has gone missing.
The report on
the corruption in Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC),
the agency that implements dam projects in Western Maharashtra, was submitted
14 years ago by SN Mushriff, former Pune superintendent of Anti-Corruption
Bureau (ACB).
Last week,
Maharashtra chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad ordered an inquiry
under Section 18 (2) of the Right to Information Act after it came to light
during a hearing that the document had gone missing from the authorities.
Gaikwad issued the order on an application filed by RTI activist Popat Kurne in
Pune.
ACB chief Raj
Khilnani has been asked to conduct the inquiry and be present for the
commission’s next hearing.
Incidentally,
no action had been taken by the state on the findings of the report. Mushriff,
now retired, had also sought an open inquiry into MKVDC by his superior at ACB
but got no reply.
The report
had highlighted the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and contractors to
award dam contracts to a handful of firms by introducing pre-qualification
norms before the tender was passed.
The report
pointed out that these norms gave officials the choice to select a particular
party from among the registered contractors. “Large scale favouritism took
place,” Mushriff said. “Those in the good books of politicians and officials
were given contract.”
In his note,
Mushriff alleged manipulation of tender notices in various newspapers so that
only a few copies published them to avoid competition. In several cases the
estimated cost of projects was inflated, sometimes even doubled. He had also
found that MKVDC sanctioned advance amount to contractors bypassing norms. His
report covered the instances during the Sena-BJP as well as Congress-NCP
governments.
HT had
reported on the findings of this report following the irrigation controversy
that saw deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar stepping down from his post.
Activists have suspected foul play and alleged that the report was blanked out
to avoid further action on it.
What the
report says:
· Dhom
Balkawadi Project, Satara district (cost Rs. 100 crore): An unsuccessful bidder lodged a complaint
with MKVDC saying that the company which was allotted work used another
company’s documents to qualify.
· Temghar
Project, Pune district (cost Rs. 160 crore): The company that bagged the
contract allegedly furnished forged documents. Instead of acting on it,
officials worked out a formula and divided the work between two companies. In
this case, the tender of the third and only other bidding company was not even
opened.
· Jambhoree
Project, Kolhapur district (cost Rs. 40 crore): A company was denied work
initially. The same company joined hands with another company to bag the
contract. The new company was not on the list of registered contractors.
· Work
on Ujani canal in Solapur district ( Rs. 3 crore) and Kudal canal in Satara
district ( Rs. 4 crore) was allotted without issuing tenders.
· In
Takari case in Sangli district, contractors refused to work and demanded higher
raters even after allotment. Instead of penalising them under law, fresh tender
was floated and work was given at a higher cost.
· For
qualification, several contractors submitted work-done certificates furnished
by cooperative sugar factories. Most of these certificates were bogus.
· Computers
worth Rs. 2 crore were bought, but these were of sub-standard quality. National
Informatics Centre has officially communicated that the computers were not as
per required specifications.
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