Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has ordered a probe by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) into serious allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds to the tune of nearly Rs 80 Cr. against the officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) in connection with the de-silting work carried out in Southwest Road-I and Southwest Road-II Divisions in Palam area. The Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor has written to the Chief Secretary conveying the orders.
In a complaint to LG's office secretariat on August 11, 2024, advocate and ward number 127 (Najafgarh) councillor Amit Kharkhari alleged that the officials involved in the project are engaged in serious irregularities, including misuse of public funds, blatant disregard for established tender norms, and other serious corrupt practices.
"Keeping in view the severity, scale of the alleged irregularities supported with substantial proof of corruption in the complaint, Hon'ble Lt. Governor has desired that this matter may kindly be referred to Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) for in depth investigation, so that further course of action be initiated, as per rules. It is also requested that an action taken report in the matter may be forwarded to this Secretariat, at the earliest", said the communication to the Chief Secretary from LG Secretariat.
The complaint alleged that one single contractor namely Surender Singh was unduly favoured and given the contracts for de-silting of drains in violation of the laid norms and thus caused financial losses to the government.
In his complaint, Kharkhari has alleged the irregularities which include corruption in de-silting of drains during monsoon of 2022; Irregularities in installation of sewerage pumps at various vulnerable locations in Jafferpur; Irregularities in the measurement of work, double payment for the same work; Fabrication of Non-existent work; Misuse of sub-division tenders; Violation of tender rules and facilitation of manual scavenging; Over inflation of tender rates and misappropriation of funds.
The complainant further alleged irregularities including fraudulent billing for consecutive four years; Obstruction of RTI requests and cover-up attempts; Corruption and manipulation of NIT process; Financial misconduct and overbilling; Misappropriation and fraudulent payments; Favouritism, corruption and misuse of power in awarding contracts to Contractor Surender Singh. In his compliant, he has named Executive Engineer, Ashish Gupta, Junior Engineer, Ajay Kumar Meena, Assistant Engineer,Dharam Singh Meena along with the contractor, Surender Singh, and other PWD employees for being directly involved in the wrongdoings.
Kharkhari also pointed out that, since both the divisions fell under the supervision of high-ranking PWD officials, including Superintending Engineers,RajpalShivrain and Shailander Mishra, as well as Chief Engineer, South (M), Manoj Kumar Aggarwal, it is likely that they were aware of such corrupt activities and may have even colluded with the above-mentioned Ex. Engineer and Assistant Engineer to shield them from scrutiny.
The complaint further added that there are several instances where the measures recorded by the above officials have been deliberately inflated to process higher payments to the contractor.
These allegations, supported by various documents, suggest that the exchequer suffered significant financial losses due to the misconduct.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva welcome the move saying that while Delhiites welcome the order of the Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena into complaint of desilting scam in Najafgarh Palam but they demand an order inquiry into desilting scam across the Capital.
The decision of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi V.K. Saxena ordering inquiry by Anti Corruption Bureau on the complaint filed by BJP Councilor Amit Kharkari regarding desilting scam in Najafgarh and Dabri Palam areas is welcomed," Sachdeva stated, expressing his pleasure with the decision of Saxena.
Attacking the AAP ruled public departments, the BJP leader said, "Be it Public Works Department (PWD), Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) or Irrigation Department there has been violation of laid norms in giving desilting contracts by indulging in irregularities in measurement of works done, inflation of tender rates, double payments, payments for works not done in not only Najafgarh or Palam areas but across the city."
Further, he alleged that the complaint involves barely two divisions of PWD and the scam amount is anticipated to be over Rs. 80 crores so it can be well assumed what would be actual amount if similar scams across Delhi are inquired into.
