A day after the group of 20 bitumen contractors announced to boycott the road construction works in the city citing ‘corruption’ in the Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) while allotting contracts, mayor Balkar Sandhu on Wednesday slammed the contractors for trying to ‘blackmail’ the civic body, ‘loot’ the public exchequer and ‘malign’ the image of the Congress ahead of the assembly elections.
Hitting out at a section of bitumen contractors, Sandhu at MC’s Zone-D office in Sarabha Nagar said the civic body has tightened noose around the contractors who have been “looting the public exchequer by forming a pool and quoting lesser bids to avail road construction projects”.
“The MC has either floated or is in process to float tenders for development projects worth around ₹300 crore and the bitumen contractors want to avail the contracts at 1% lesser amount than the estimate, which I will not allow at any cost. Even in 2017, the contractors had given consent to take up the works at 5% lesser amount, but now they are trying to blackmail the officials to loot the hard-earned money of taxpayers. If the contractors remain adamant, then the MC will convert the tenders and ready mix concrete roads will be constructed in place of bitumen ones,” the mayor said.
Accusing the president of Ludhiana Hotmix Plant Welfare Association (bitumen contractors), Vinod Jain, of indulging in corrupt practices, the mayor said that Jain had been working in connivance of a senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and they both were trying to malign the image of the Congress by trying to delay the development works ahead of the assembly elections.
{{/usCountry}}Accusing the president of Ludhiana Hotmix Plant Welfare Association (bitumen contractors), Vinod Jain, of indulging in corrupt practices, the mayor said that Jain had been working in connivance of a senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and they both were trying to malign the image of the Congress by trying to delay the development works ahead of the assembly elections.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking on the allegations of corruption levelled by the contractors, Sandhu said those were baseless without any evidence. “If they have any proof, then they should submit a formal complaint and I will take action regarding suspension and dismissal of officials concerned,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jain — who had also accused Sandhu of being involved in the practice of charging commission for allotting contracts of development works to the contractors and releasing payments for completed works — said the mayor and the MC were now trying to “blackmail” the contractors after they blew the lid off their corrupt practices.
“If I have been blacklisted, then why MC officials allotted road construction work to my firm a week ago. If I have done something wrong, then the mayor should mark an inquiry and take action against me. We will not be blackmailed. We have stopped the bitumen works in the city till the time these corrupt practices are not stopped by the MC. If required, we will also ask the other associations of contractors in the state to join our cause,” he added.
Contractors stalled work fearing inspection: MC chief
Lashing out at the contractors, MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said, “To keep a check on the quality of work done by contractors, the state government has directed the chief vigilance officer of the local bodies department to conduct inspections in the city. Fearing that the samples of work done by them will fail the quality tests, the contractors have announced to stall the projects by levelling false allegations on the MC officials.”
He added that no compromise will be tolerated with the quality of work.
Blacklisted contractor bags contract; inquiry marked
Mayor Sandhu said that Vinod Jain was blacklisted by MC last year over poor quality work, but it has come to his knowledge that he was still securing contracts by submitting bids through the firms of some other contractors. An inquiry has been marked in the case, the mayor said.
Sandhu has also marked an inquiry over conversion of the dispensary site into a commercial building in Talab Bazaar area by Jain. Also, a report has been sought for the construction of a hotel in the Old City area by Jain in violation of parking and building bylaws.