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PWD chargesheets 5 officials for delay in carpeting of roads
Executive engineer Rakesh Garg’s probation period has been extended as per orders released in the last week of May
The Punjab public works department (PWD) has finally chargesheeted five senior officials, including three retired top officials, for delay in overlaying of roads being maintained by Rohan Rajdeep Tollways Limited.
The officials chargesheeted include chief engineer Raj Kumar (retd), serving chief engineer Paramjoti Arora, superintendent engineer (SE) NP Singh (retd), SE Parwinderjit Singh (retd) and serving executive engineer Yuvraj Bindra.
Another SE Rakesh Garg’s probation period has been extended owing to the same reason as per orders released in the last week of May.
Hindustan Times has accessed the chargesheet orders issued by the Punjab Government.
It is alleged that the company delayed overlaying (carpeting) of roads, which was to be done at regular intervals as per the contract and no action was initiated against the company by the officials supervising the projects.
As most of the contracts of the company will end in a few years, the delay, as per the government, has benefitted the company to the tune of crores of rupees, and it kept on collecting toll charges from commuters as per the increased rates signed in the agreement.
The action comes more than seven months after the PWD decided to issue a chargesheet to its around 30 senior officials for the delay in work on toll roads that as per an estimate has saved around ₹40 crore for the company.
Though action against the officials in scrutiny was mooted in September last year, the file regarding chargesheeting these senior officials was kept under the carpet due to pressure from various corners, said an official privy to the developments.
Now, the five officials have been chargesheeted for delaying carpeting of Morinda-Kurali-Siswan toll road after pressure from the chief minister’s office as chief minister Bhagwant Mann is said to be perusing the alleged favours given to toll road companies.
All eyes are on the PWD department if it initiates action against other officials involved in supervising other toll roads.
In September last year, according to a letter sent by the government to the chief engineer (headquarters), PWD, it was asked to prepare a draft of the chargesheet against the officials responsible for the delay in overlaying ever since 2009 when the first carpeting was due by the company on a particular road.
“Not only was the work delayed, but also the company was allowed to operate toll and collect charges worth crores from the commuters by the PWD department,” said a senior government functionary. The company was also allowed to increase the rates and no serious effort was made to penalise the company, said the official.
Money collected by the construction companies has remained a key political issue and the chief minister had announced the closure of several tolls.
