NEW DELHI: The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has registered a case on the basis of a complaint lodged by Directorate of Vigilance regarding corruption in the desilting of drains by the Public Works Department, a senior officer said on Friday.
According to the officer, the Vigilance has found misuse of public funds and loss of the government exchequer to the tune of approximately Rs 80 crores.
Sharing details, Joint Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma said a letter dated September 11 was received from Directorate of Vigilance, GNCT of Delhi regarding corruption in desilting work carried out during the year 2021-22 to 2024-25 under South-West Road-I (SWR-I) and South-West Road-II (SWR-II) divisions of the PWD.
According to the letter, the alleged PWD officials had manipulated the actual lengths of the drains to inflate the bills in various works, which unjustifiably benefitted the contractor.
“Fraudulent payments were made to the contractor for non-existent works by fabrication and false certifications by PWD officials. Overlapping of Works by including desilting of the same area in two different tenders issued by the PWD, resulting in double payment to the contractor for the same work,” the Jt CP said
He said that a single contractor has been awarded multiple tenders at “highly inflated rates” by allegedly manipulating the bids and violating the contract conditions.
It has been alleged that the bills related to desilting works were inflated by showing the use of super sucker machines whereas, in reality, the cleaning was done manually.
“Serious irregularities and abuse of power on the part of the PWD officials by issuing 7 separate NITs unlawfully. Further, actual tender costs in these NITs were highly inflated by including extra items and deviations,” the senior officer said.
Further it is alleged that over the span of four years, fraudulent payments totaling approximately Rs.78.40 crores have been directed to a single contractor.
“In the instant reference, many serious allegations i.e. misuse of public funds and blatant disregard towards established tender norms, etc. have been leveled for the work of desilting,” the officer said.
The complaint further states that the contractor was actively involved in the matter in connivance with other known and unknown PWD officials which resulted in a significant financial loss to the government exchequer.
Verma said that a systematic investigation has been launched by the ACB to unearth the whole conspiracy and fix the role of people involved in the matter.