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Money paid to contractor before work starts, MCG orders vigilance probe
Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Monday initiated a probe into the alleged irregularities in the disbursement of fund by the engineering
Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Monday initiated a probe into the alleged irregularities in the disbursement of fund by the engineering wing after it came to light that ₹1.67 crore, the total project cost, was allegedly paid to a contractor for a two-kilometre road in ward 1 even before the construction started.
MCG officials said that the role of at least three officials in the engineering wing is under scanner. As per the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, the total payment is only made to a contractor after the work is completed.
According to the officials, a tender of ₹ 1.67 crore was floated in December last year for constructing the road in Bajghera, following which the contractor was shortlisted for the project.
On February 6, Gurgaon MLA Sudhir Singla had lodged a complaint with the MCG and the directorate of urban local bodies (ULB) regarding the matter, following which MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh directed the vigilance wing to investigate the matter.
“It came to my knowledge that the MCG had already paid a contractor the total sum even though the road construction was yet to start. It is a clear case of embezzlement. I have asked the MCG to take action against the officials who awarded the contract, took the measurements, and gave a satisfactory letter upon which the payment was made to the contractor,” said Singla.
Singla further said that he has asked the MCG to blacklist the contractor concerned and ensure that his background details are registered into their log for ensuring that he does not apply for future contracts under a different company name.
“We have initiated an investigation into the matter. I cannot disclose the details until the inquiry is over,” said Amardeep Jain, head of MCG’s vigilance wing.
An MCG official privy to the matter said on Monday that the total project amount, ₹1.67 crore, has been recovered and the project has now been transferred to the public works department (PWD). The official said it is likely that two officials in the engineering wing may face suspension while another may be given a show-cause notice to explain his role in the matter.
It is the second such discovery in the MCG in two months where the contractor has received the entire project sum even though the project is yet to be completed.
Last month, MCG had blacklisted a contractor, suspended a junior engineer, and served show-cause notices to three engineering wing officials after it was discovered that total payment of the project, amounting to ₹35.35 lakh, was already made to the contractor in October last year for constructing a 1.7-kilometre-long green belt and a footpath along Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, between Khushboo Chowk and Bristol Chowk. Work amounting to ₹11 lakh was completed when the matter came to light in December last year, officials had said.
