RTI reveals delay doubled cost of court complex

Times of India: Kolhapur: Saturday, 09 January 2016.

An RTI application has revealed that the cost of the court complex on Kasba Bawada road doubled from Rs 28 crore to Rs 55.08 crore due to the delay in completing the project.

Civic activist Dilip Desai, who filed the application, said that as per the work order, the construction was supposed to be completed by August 2011.

The project was approved in 2007 and the public works department issued the work order to the private contractor in August 2009. The PWD had granted the construction tender to a private company based on the terms that it (the company) will finish the work in 24 months.

The complex has been awaiting inauguration for the last four months. PWD officials confirmed on at least two occasions that the budget was extended from the original provision of Rs 28 crore.

"The PWD failed to clarify why the project was delayed which resulted in cost escalations. In the end, the taxpayers' money is wasted and PWD has taken no action against the contractor," he said.

The activist wrote a letter this week to the principal accountant general of Maharashtra to conduct a thorough inquiry into the cost escalation and sought the attention of the auditor to the multiple extensions granted to the contractor. "Even though a three-year extension expired on August 2014, the project was declared complete in September 2015. There was no report of action taken against the contractor," Desai wrote to the auditor.

Desai had also written a memorandum on January 5 to the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation and other government agencies attracting their attention to the case. He asked the officers whether the inquiry into building permission has been completed.

He had earlier alleged that the PWD had constructed the building without taking permission from town planning department and had not obtained environmental clearance. The PWD officials have declined to comment on the issue.