Inquiry into ‘inflated tenders' for Samruddhi Mahamarg on the cards
On June 9, C M Sane, PAG, acting upon a letter from the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Maharashtra legislature, Vijay Wadettiwar, and a complaint from Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, directed the accountant general to initiate the action.
The office of PAG is entrusted with the expenditure audit of 38 departments of the Maharashtra government, and reports to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
The public works department, too, sought a reply from the MSRDC on a similar set of allegations on June 30.
The Samruddhi Mahamarg–officially Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg–is a high-speed corridor between Mumbai and Nagpur.
In his May 28 letter, Pawar had complained about an alleged embezzlement of money in the Nagpur Mumbai Samruddhi expressway to the PAC of the state legislature. The complaint alleged that the expressway work was carried out in 16 phases, with thousands of crores allegedly being embezzled. The figures in the tender were also inflated, he said.
According to the complaint, Phase No 11 of the Samruddhi highway runs from Mouje Dhotre to Mouje Darle in Ahilyanagar. The tender for this was floated in 2018. 'This tender for a total distance of 29 km was awarded to Gayatri Project for Rs 1,900 crore. However, since Gayatri Project showed its inability to complete the said work of phase number 11 in 2021, it was awarded to the company called Huzoor Multi Project. It was awarded for a whopping Rs 2,700 crore with an increase of Rs 800 crore,' it said.
Pawar's letter alleged that Huzoor Multi Project has a total of 1.52 crore shares, out of which 23 lakh shares are held by a relative of an officer linked to the MSRDC. 'That is why the tender was given at an inflated rate to the company…,' it said.
Pawar mentioned in his complaint that the tender figures were inflated for the 179 km Jalna-Nanded work of Samruddhi Highway. 'Initially, the amount in this tender was fixed at Rs 11,442 crore, but it has been mentioned that it was actually given at Rs 15,554 crore. While the price was expected to come down during the tender process, it was given at an increased rate of Rs 4,442 crore. The central vigilance team too had taken a note of the tender given at the said increased rate and had suspended the process for time being,' the complaint said.
Taking note of the cost escalation, Wadettiwar sought an inquiry from the PAG on May 28. He also wrote to the PWD secretary on the same day, asking him to submit a report.
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