MCG to be audited over irregularities in contract works over last two years

A special audit of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram has been sanctioned by the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) minister, Anil Vij, to check for irregularities in the agency’s operations, officials said on Sunday

A special audit of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram has been sanctioned by the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) minister, Anil Vij, to check for irregularities in the agency’s operations, officials said on Sunday.

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Officials said that Vij was apprised of the irregularities on Thursday, when he turned up without warning to the MCG’s House meeting, in which agendas approved last year were being discussed. Vij, who is also the state health minister, was in the city on Thursday for the start of the second phase of Covid-19 vaccinations.

Following conversations with the councillors — who apprised him about several instances wherein the MCG officials had paid total project cost to contractors but failed to ensure the start of work on the ground or where work was in initial stages — Vij announced that an audit of the municipal body would be carried out.

“The ULB minister was present at the review meeting for a short duration. He lent his support to the concept of reviewing House meeting agendas and later, also announced that a special audit would be carried out for both the MCG and the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) by the auditor general,” said Madhu Azad, mayor, MCG.

A special audit is one which only looks into the specific, selective workings of a public body and does not provide comprehensive coverage. For instance, in the special audit ordered by Vij, only irregularities in sanctioning funds to contractors would be looked into, rather than all civic dealings.

There were several major cases last year wherein the MCG’s engineering wing officials had flouted norms and paid money to the contractors. As per MCG councillors, they brought the matter to Vij’s notice which prompted him to announce for a special audit.

“There have been several cases in the MCG last year where irregularities were highlighted on part of MCG officials, who seemed to have colluded with contractors and paid them the entire project cost or a significant sum even though work on-ground was yet to start or still at an early stage. We had a brief discussion with the ULB minister on this, where he informed us about this audit,” said a councillor, who had attended the meeting held at the PWD rest house.

In December last year, the charge of an MCG executive engineer (XEN) was withdrawn over alleged irregularities. In November 2020, the MCG had floated tenders to fix potholes and re-carpet roads in Ward 34, at an estimated cost of around ₹47.50 lakh. The XEN had allegedly paid the entire project cost even though work had not started on the ground.

In September last year, a contractor was paid ₹50 lakh, nearly a quarter of the total project cost of ₹2 crore, for laying pavement tiles in Ward 25. However, after it emerged that only 10% of work had been executed on the ground, an investigation was initiated into the matter.

In February 2020, a local politician had alerted the MCG that ₹1.67 crore — the total project cost for building a two-kilometre road in Ward 1 — had been paid to a contractor even before construction had started. It resulted in a vigilance probe.

In December 2019, the MCG’s engineering wing had paid ₹35 lakh to a contractor for constructing a 1.7-kilometre track between Khushboo Chowk and Bristol Chowk along the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road despite work having been done on only 600 metres, totalling to ₹11 lakh. The contractor was later blacklisted by the MCG.

In July last year, Vij had made a similar announcement and an order for a special audit of both MCG and MCF was also issued by the Haryana government. However, officials privy to the matter said that the special audit could not be conducted due to government officials being caught up with the coronavirus outbreak.

Despite repeated attempts, the commissioner of MCG could not be contacted for comment on the issue.