Vigilance Seeks Centre's Nod To Probe Jain And Bharadwaj

Time of India

09-05-2025

New Delhi: Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) of Delhi govt sought permission from central govt to conduct an inquiry under Prevention of Corruption (PoC) Act against former ministers
Satyendar Jain
and
Saurabh Bharadwaj
for alleged irregularities and corruption in various projects of the health and family welfare department, including 24 hospital projects during the tenure of AAP dispensation.Sources in Delhi govt said the recommendation was sent by the chief secretary to lieutenant governor VK Saxena.
LG recently gave his nod to place the matter before President of India, stating that as per Section 17A(C) of PoC Act, she is the competent authority in the case.Dismissing the allegations, AAP said if there was any corruption, the secretary of Public Works Department should be questioned first. "How can there be an inquiry against the ministers without any inquiry against the head of the department or the principal secretary of PWD?" it questioned.BJP MLA Vijender Gupta submitted a complaint to the anti-corruption branch of Delhi govt on Aug 22, 2024, alleging "rampant corruption" plaguing the health department. The Rohini MLA alleged that 24 hospital projects—11 greenfield and 13 brownfield—were sanctioned in 2018-19 with a total cost of Rs 5,590 crore, but those were mired in "inexplicable delays and astronomical cost overruns". He added that seven ICU hospitals, designed as pre-engineered structures with a total bed capacity of 6,800, were sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 1,125 crore in Sept 2021, but only 50% were completed in three years, and Rs 800 crore of public money was "wasted".Gupta also alleged that the construction cost of a new block at Lok Nayak Hospital increased from Rs 465 crore to Rs 1,125 crore, and only 52 polyclinics were built out of the 94 planned, but the cost jumped from Rs 168 crore to Rs 220 crore. There was a long delay in implementing Health Information Management System and the project was deliberately stalled since 2016, he added.DoV said it found the matter "grave" in nature and sought comments from the health department and PWD. While the health secretary responded that there were "issues which can be looked into by ACB", PWD said a "thorough vigilance inquiry was recommended".Examining the proposal submitted by the anti-corruption branch and the comments furnished by the health secretary and PWD, DoV observed that the construction of hospitals was not completed in the stipulated time due to upgradation in specifications and facilities after the award of work. It added that due diligence in estimate preparation and planning was not done, resulting in an abnormal increase in cost, and the escalation of arbitration costs resulted in an unnecessary burden on the govt exchequer. "There can be some hidden facts and evidence in the matter that attract an inquiry… to unearth the lapses committed in the matter, in-depth inquiry/investigation is required," it observed.DoV added that ACB also mentioned that the allegations of consistent inflating of project costs, deliberate delays, rejection of cost-effective solutions, miscalculation of funds and creation of idle assets were serious in nature and required an inquiry.Reacting to the allegations, AAP said when Covid-19 cases started rising, there were projections that Delhi might have 5.5 lakh cases of coronavirus and might need 80,000 hospital beds, especially ICU ones. "AAP govt mobilised its financial resources to build these hospitals at the fastest possible pace. Later, the threat of corona subsided, and the priorities of govt were calibrated accordingly," it claimed."Even today's BJP govt has not provided enough funds to complete the construction of these hospital buildings. This is also leading to cost inflation. Such practices in govt are common and cannot be termed as corruption," the party said. "After initial sanctions, no file for revised sanction ever came to the ministers. If there was any corruption, the PWD secretary should be questioned... BJP govt believes it can spend five years by just tomtomming the so-called inquiries," AAP said.