Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has sent notices to six people, including a former officer on special duty (OSD) to former PWD minister Satyendra Jain, in connection with its probe into alleged corruption in the construction of classrooms during AAP govt’s tenure in Delhi, according to sources.
Among those asked to join the investigation in the first phase are a former engineer-in-chief, an architect and the chief project engineer associated with the construction.
Also on the ACB radar are some officials of a consultancy firm who were allegedly appointed consultants without due procedures being followed. ACB’s investigation revealed they attended a crucial meeting in the chamber of the then PWD minister and got post-tender changes in the work contracts on the pretext of “richer specifications”. “This resulted in additional financial implications of over Rs 205.4 crore,” said an official. They have been asked to join the probe too.
ACB is understood to have requested the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to assign them a technical examiner for probing the technical aspects of the case, sources said. On Wednesday, the ACB chief, joint commissioner Madhur Verma, confirmed the registration of an FIR against former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Jain, alleging corruption of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of 12,748 classrooms.
The cost of construction, the FIR alleges, was inflated five times by the accused to dupe the public and siphon funds from the exchequer. It equates the billed construction cost to the expenses incurred to build a five-star hotel suite.
The probe by CVC and ACB revealed that the construction of semi-permanent structure classrooms with a 30-year lifespan was allegedly done at a cost equivalent to RCC classrooms with a 75-year lifespan, resulting in no apparent financial benefit. The lump sum cost for constructing one school room, as per the awarded tenders, was about Rs 24.9 lakh per room, whereas such rooms could ordinarily be constructed in Delhi for about Rs 5 lakh each, it was alleged.
The project was to be completed by June 2016 at the sanctioned cost, without any scope for future cost escalations. “However, not even a single work was completed within the prescribed time period, and significant deviations and cost escalations were observed,” the FIR states.
ACB chief Verma said a comprehensive investigation was underway to unearth the conspiracy and fix the role and culpability of the accused ex-ministers, besides “known/unknown govt officials and contractors”.
“The scam could not have been executed without collusion among officials of various departments for personal gain. The role of ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyender Jain requires a thorough investigation because a scam of this scale could not have been executed without the knowledge or involvement of the ministers concerned,” the FIR claims.
Mayank Rawat
