HSVP executive engineer suspended after inspection of Country Club

An executive engineer of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) was suspended on Thursday evening following an inspection of the HSVP Country Club being developed

An executive engineer of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) was suspended on Thursday evening following an inspection of the HSVP Country Club being developed by the authority in sector 56.

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Apurva Kumar Singh, principal secretary, town and country planning department, who conducted the inspection on Thursday with senior HSVP officials, issued the order to suspend Bhoop Singh, executive engineer, after finding that the work on the project was running way behind schedule. Last week, a Gurugram court had directed the city police to register a case against HSVP officials for making inflated payments to the contractor in the matter.

Bhoop Singh was in-charge of the work on this site, the order issued by Singh said.

In 2014, the state government had announced the construction of Country Club for residents in sector 56 and HSVP had given the contract to a private firm for Rs 11.88 crore. The deadline to complete the project was 15 months but the deadline was extended repeatedly and the project remained incomplete despite inflated payment to the tune of Rs 19.60 crore, officials claimed.

The suspension order (a copy of which HT has seen) issued by the principal secretary observed that it was shocking to see that there was no noticeable physical progress on site in the work for over one year since December 2019, when the undersigned (principal secretary) visited the site. Even after Unlock five, the executive engineer has failed to take interest in his work and had become complacent and uncaring towards his duties, it said.

“The executive engineer, HSVP, will be placed under suspension with immediate effect,” the order stated, adding that a special audit will be conducted of the works under the charge of the executive engineer concerned, with regard to release of funds, utilization reports, and physical progress reports of all major works (above Rs 2 crore each) be audited for last two years. Bhoop Singh was also transferred to Rohtak.

Jitender Yadav, administrator, Gurugram, HSVP, when asked about the matter, confirmed the development but did not comment on the matter. “Action has been taken against the official concerned,” he said. Bhoop Singh, executive engineer, HSVP, did not reply to calls and messages by HT.