E-Paper
Accused contractor in multi-crore irrigation scam surrenders
Contractor Gurinder Singh, who is the main accused in the multi-crore scam, has been remanded in vigilance bureau custody
The Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) on Wednesday secured custody of contractor Gurinder Singh, who is the main accused in the multi-crore irrigation scam after he surrendered in a court in Mohali.
The Supreme Court, while upholding a ruling of Punjab and Haryana high court to decline anticipatory bail to Gurinder, had rejected his bail plea on December 7 and directed him to surrender within one week to join the ongoing investigations. After his surrender, the Mohali court remanded him in vigilance custody till December 16.
The VB had initiated an inquiry in a number of works allotted to Gurinder through e-tenders by the irrigation department to probe into the allegations of irregularities.
During the investigation, the VB found that Gurinder Singh & Company, a firm owned by Gurinder, was favoured by engineers of the department, who allotted him more than 60% of total works by cost, in violation of rules and guidelines of the department in collusion with him.
During investigations, the VB found that works were allotted to Gurinder’s firm at higher rates by way of single tenders, facilitated by tailor-made conditions and clubbing of works.
During the scrutiny of documents, it also came to light that the annual turnover of Gurinder’s company shot up from Rs 4.5 crore to around Rs 300 crore within a very short span of time.
The VB had already registered a case to probe into the irregularities and corruption charges levelled against Gurinder and others in allotment of tenders under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act at the VB police station in Mohali.
The bureau also booked Gulshan Nagpal, executive engineer (XEN); Paramjit Singh Ghuman, chief engineer (retired); Bajrang Lal Singla, XEN; Harvinder Singh, chief engineer (retired); Kaminder Singh Deol, SDO (retired); Gurdev Singh Sian, chief engineer (retired); and Vimal Kumar Sharma, supervisor.
What is the scam?
Gurinder was awarded contracts of drainage repair worth over Rs 3,000 crore between 2010 and 2016, through tailor-made conditions prepared allegedly by senior bureaucrats and top officials of the department. He was favoured to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore in only seven contracts the vigilance bureau (VB) has investigated till date.
What was the modus operandi?
Senior officials of the department used to draft the tender as per Gurinder’s suitability. He used to get sensitive secret information regarding tenders in advance. In many cases, aides of Gurinder were found drafting terms and conditions of contracts for major works which were sent to the accused officials on their emails and shockingly were made part of the final tender conditions issued in DNIT (detailed notice inviting tender). In some cases, a tender was drafted in such a manner that only Gurinder was left as the single bidder.
What was the role of officials in the scam?
Apart from making tailor-made conditions for Gurinder, the accused officials used to falsely certify the rates of the material in the estimates submitted for a particular work. In many cases, the officials falsely certified his rates as the lowest, which were actually twice the market rates. Investigations have revealed that such certification and quotations were based on false quotes when, in fact, the rates quoted by Gurinder and approved as the lowest were two to two-and-a-half times higher than market rates.
Who is contractor Gurinder?
Gurinder was close to senior Akali leaders and bureaucrats. He is said to be a hidden partner in a business with son of a senior bureaucrat from Punjab. He remained so influential that a number of documents which were supposed to be in the custody of irrigation department have been recovered from his residence during raids by VB. Even letters written by the VB to the department seeking the record of works related to this scam have been found from his residence during the raids. Since April 2017, when the VB started looking into irregularities committed by Gurinder, there has been a heavy cash withdrawal from his bank accounts. A sum of Rs 61.05 crore was withdrawn since April, 2017. Gurinder’s income tax return also had a phenomenal increase from Rs 3 crore in 2010 to Rs 350 crore in 2016.
