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Engineers face probe for paying contractors before commencement of work
Ward 28 councillor, who lodged a complaint, said that all six projects in question are in Sector 39, where an MCG office is located
Based on a complaint from the councillor of Ward 28, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) initiated an internal inquiry against two of its executive engineers (XENs) for allegedly making payments of around ₹1.75 crore to five contractors for six projects in Sector 39 even though work is yet to commence.
Ward 28 councillor Hemant Kumar filed a complaint with senior MCG officials, based on which MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja initiated a formal inquiry.
Ahuja did not respond to requests for comment.
The councillor said that all six projects in question are in Sector 39, where an MCG office is located. The health wing operates from Sector 39 and a diagnostic centre of the MCG is also located in the vicinity.
“The six projects include installation of CCTV cameras, laying optical fibre and building new infrastructure, like waiting areas, among other such amenities. To my knowledge, work on none of these projects has started and hence, I have taken up the matter with the MCG commissioner for inquiry. Once the inquiry is completed, it will be clear how much work has been done on the ground against which funds were issued to the contractors. The discrepancies can be verified,” said Kumar.
The development comes less than a month after Haryana Urban Local Bodies (ULB) minister Anil Vij conducted a surprise inspection of the MCG office and found several gaps in the functioning of the MCG. An FIR was also lodged on that day against three MCG officials and three contractors.
Since December 2019, it is the fifth such complaint received by the MCG about its official paying a contractor despite work not started or completed on the ground.
Kumar said that two executive engineers, the former zone executive engineer of the area and his successor, were overseeing the six projects and that complaints were submitted against both of them.
According to the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, a contractor can only be paid the running costs. Full payment can be made only after a project is completed.
However, the officials under the scanner defended their actions. “The projects were initiated for MCG’s internal purposes only and not for public use. Each of these had to be fast-tracked due to the coronavirus outbreak while work on the diagnostic lab was being carried out on CSR [corporate social responsibility] funds. The main issue of the Ward 28 councillor is that a work-satisfactory certificate was not taken from him in the matters. The same has already been conveyed to senior MCG officials,” one of the executive engineers under question said.
After a project is completed, the local ward councillor has to issue a work-satisfactory certificate, stating that he/she is satisfied with the quality of work. The certificate is necessary for the MCG’s engineering wing to release funds to a contractor.
