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Country`s first `jan sunwai` exposes govt corruption
New Delhi, Jan 23: The country`s first `jan sunwai` on the developmental works executed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in two metropolitan colonies has revealed that most of the works were actually ghost works`.
New Delhi, Jan 23: The country`s first `jan sunwai` on the developmental works executed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in two metropolitan colonies has revealed that most of the works were actually ghost works`.
These works existed only on paper, and of projects worth Rs 1.39 crore examined, half did not physically exist.
Of the 29 electric motors supposed to be installed on handpumps, not even one had been installed.
In eight cases of road construction contracts examined, findings brought to light that in six cases `just a single layer` of stone aggregate was laid while in the remaining even that was not done.
However, the bills for all these had been paid.
Whenever a new street is made, drains on both sides are constructed afresh. In the 35 cases examined, while payments had been made, fresh drains were not built even in a single case. In 19 cases, the level was raised by one brick while in the remaining no work was done.
Significantly, payments had been made twice for the same work in two cases.
Tests on two samples of cement concrete revealed only one fourth of the contracted amount (1:5:15) against the prescribed ratio of 1:2:4, where one part is cement, two parts coarse sand and four parts stone aggregate. Also, the bitumen content was found to be 20 per cent less than the contracted quantity.
Surprisingly, the samples had been cleared by the MCD lab in both the cases.
This is merely the tip of the iceberg, said Arvind of `Parivartan`, a non-governmental organisation on whose initiative the `hearing` took place in association with the `national campaign for people`s right to information`.
And this was just the first case opened for `scrutiny`. What`s in store for the countrymen when other cases around the nation are placed before the public is anybody`s guess, he added.
The idea behind the public hearing, first after the introduction of the Delhi Right to Information Act, was to verify the veracity of government records on expenditure and the status and quality of the works `recorded as having been carried out`, he said.
In Delhi, given the high level of dissatisfaction among the residents of New Seemapuri and Sundernagari with the working of MCD, it was decided to do a `social audit` of works undertaken by it there in the last two years.
For this, copies of contracts and documents relating to all works undertaken by the MCD`s engineering department between April 2000 and March 2002 in the resettlement colonies of New Seemapuri and Sundernagari were obtained, assessed, compiled, analysed and then presented to the public.
Only works pertaining to installation of hand pumps, and construction of lanes, roads and drains were taken up -- 67 contracts worth Rs 1.39 crore, Arvind told a news agency adding that `Parivartan`, along with the area-residents, later visited each of the work sites and jointly verified the existence, status and quality of the works.
The `visits` revealed that almost half of the works that had been sanctioned, paid for and completed (as per government records) merely existed on paper.
In others, the quantity of material used was nowhere near the amount specified in the contracts, as evident both from specific testing and from the poor state of some of these works, though they were done just a year back, said the `Parivartan` representative.
Bureau Report
Whenever a new street is made, drains on both sides are constructed afresh. In the 35 cases examined, while payments had been made, fresh drains were not built even in a single case. In 19 cases, the level was raised by one brick while in the remaining no work was done.
Significantly, payments had been made twice for the same work in two cases.
Tests on two samples of cement concrete revealed only one fourth of the contracted amount (1:5:15) against the prescribed ratio of 1:2:4, where one part is cement, two parts coarse sand and four parts stone aggregate. Also, the bitumen content was found to be 20 per cent less than the contracted quantity.
Surprisingly, the samples had been cleared by the MCD lab in both the cases.
This is merely the tip of the iceberg, said Arvind of `Parivartan`, a non-governmental organisation on whose initiative the `hearing` took place in association with the `national campaign for people`s right to information`.
And this was just the first case opened for `scrutiny`. What`s in store for the countrymen when other cases around the nation are placed before the public is anybody`s guess, he added.
The idea behind the public hearing, first after the introduction of the Delhi Right to Information Act, was to verify the veracity of government records on expenditure and the status and quality of the works `recorded as having been carried out`, he said.
In Delhi, given the high level of dissatisfaction among the residents of New Seemapuri and Sundernagari with the working of MCD, it was decided to do a `social audit` of works undertaken by it there in the last two years.
For this, copies of contracts and documents relating to all works undertaken by the MCD`s engineering department between April 2000 and March 2002 in the resettlement colonies of New Seemapuri and Sundernagari were obtained, assessed, compiled, analysed and then presented to the public.
Only works pertaining to installation of hand pumps, and construction of lanes, roads and drains were taken up -- 67 contracts worth Rs 1.39 crore, Arvind told a news agency adding that `Parivartan`, along with the area-residents, later visited each of the work sites and jointly verified the existence, status and quality of the works.
The `visits` revealed that almost half of the works that had been sanctioned, paid for and completed (as per government records) merely existed on paper.
In others, the quantity of material used was nowhere near the amount specified in the contracts, as evident both from specific testing and from the poor state of some of these works, though they were done just a year back, said the `Parivartan` representative.
Bureau Report