Engineers of Ludhiana municipal corporation accused of embezzling funds in development work tenders.
Ludhiana: The controversy surrounding MC superintending engineer Sanjay Kanwar, who had allegedly demanded a commission in exchange for securing a tender for renovation of Rose Garden, is not yet resolved.
Other engineers from the B&R branch of Zone-D are also coming under the govt scrutiny. Officers of the B&R branch have been accused of embezzling crores of rupees under the guise of development works. Former contractor of the MC Ramesh Chand Nayyar has filed a written complaint to Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, accusing the officers of the B&R branch of alleged embezzlement.
Chand has alleged that the current officers posted in the MC were misappropriating govt treasury to serve their own interests.
Estimates for the reconstruction of roads were being prepared for inflated amounts, he said, adding that the MC-floated tenders for development works costing about Rs 16 crore, but upon investigation it was found that the estimates were prepared in a highly inflated manner. For example, the Mall Road, for which an estimate of Rs 1.90 crore was prepared, included the cost of bituminous macadam as Rs 90 lakh, even though the road is clean on both sides and patchwork has been done on this road in the recent past.
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According to an estimate, a layer of 30 mm semi-dense bituminous concrete could have been laid here, costing about Rs 70-75 lakh, potentially saving about Rs 1.20 crore. Similarly, a tender was floated for work costing Rs 1.53 crore in Sargodha Colony, where Rs 1.10 crore could have been saved by not inflating the estimated cost. About Rs 1 crore could also have been saved on the road constructed from Saggu Chowk to Hambran Road.
Ramesh Chand has demanded from the CM that the estimates of these roads be investigated by the PWD officials so that the scam involving crores of rupees in the civic body was exposed. The complainant states that, on one hand, the MC did not have funds to pay the employees on time, and on the other, the officials are defrauding the govt treasury in the name of development works. He has requested the CM to investigate the previous and present tenders of the MC.
The tenders, which earlier used to be given at a 25-35% discount, are now being given at 25-50 % discount.
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