Execution of 50 projects without floating tenders by SMC
*No guidelines laid down to avoid violations in other ULBs
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 28: In a big question mark on the intentions of the Housing and Urban Development Department about curbing the violations of rules by the Urban Local Bodies, a Fact Finding Committee headed by the Administrative Secretary of the department is dilly-dallying on the completion of probe into execution of 50 projects without floating tenders by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, which was brought to the fore by none else than the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau vide Verification No.SLK-22/2020-4755-57 dated March 9, 2021 revealed that in 2019, 50 works were executed in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation on the directions of the Mayor Junaid Azam Mattu and later the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) was floated on his directions to legalize the works done without tenders.
“Regular Departmental Action may be initiated against the delinquent public servants for adopting a wrong procedure to clear the bills of contractors and a Fact Finding Committee may be constituted to fix the responsibility of officials for non-tendered works by Srinagar Municipal Corporation”, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had mentioned in the communication addressed to the General Administration Department.
More than three months after the receipt of verification report from the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Commissioner/ Secretary General Administration Department Manoj Kumar Dwivedi vide Government Order No.35-JK-GAD(Vig) dated June 15, 2021 constituted a Fact Finding Committee in the Housing and Urban Development Department.
The Committee headed by Principal Secretary to the Government, Housing and Urban Development Department and comprised of Director Urban Local Bodies Kashmir, Chief Engineer R&B Kashmir and Municipal Commissioner Jammu was asked to conduct probe into the irregularities in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation as reported by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and pin point the role of the persons involved in the same.
Further, the Fact Finding Committee was assigned the task of giving appropriate recommendations with regard to the execution of works in all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) so as to streamline them and prevent any such violation.
However, even after the lapse of more than three months the Fact Finding Committee has not completed the probe, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “the Committee has met only once or twice during this period as a result of which exercise could not be completed till date”.
Some members of the Fact Finding Committee, when contacted by EXCELSIOR, confirmed that no concrete decision has been taken till date and said, “it is better to approach the Chairman of the Committee to ascertain when the entire exercise will be completed as we have to go by his words”, adding “we being members are required to provide necessary assistance but the time-frame about the submission of recommendations to the Government can be conveyed by Chairman only”.
While wishing anonymity, they, while replying to another question, admitted that no guidelines have been framed for execution of works in the Urban Local Bodies, which are obviously prone to the corrupt practices especially when huge funds are being provided by the Government of India for carrying out developmental activities.
In its verification report, the Anti-Corruption Bureau has mentioned: “The wrong procedure was adopted for clearance of payments against works executed without inviting tenders and without following codal formalities”, adding “the concerned officials expressed ignorance about the execution of works prior to the publishing of NIT as they had not prepared any type of DPR/estimate for the work in their areas of responsibilities”.
“Keeping in view the glaring instance of violation of rules, the Fact Finding Committee was supposed to complete the probe as expeditiously as possible but the way it is handling this important task it seems that there is no intention of the Housing and Urban Development Department to punish the guilty and put in place a mechanism for execution of works by all the Urban Local Bodies across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”, sources said.
They further said, “this is not for the first time that such a glaring instance of irregularities is being taken non-seriously. The website of Housing and Urban Development Department is flooded with orders constituting committees to look into irregularities of different nature in the Urban Local Bodies but in most of the cases reports from the committees of officials are awaited”.
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