NEW DELHI: Delhi L-G VK Saxena has ordered an Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) probe into the more than a decade delay in the construction of the Barapulla flyover. This delay has also caused loss of hundreds of crores to the government exchequer by way of cost overruns and payment of arbitration penalty due to the delay, to the private contractor, L&T.
Approving the proposal of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) of the Cabinet headed by CM, Rekha Gupta, the L-G noted on file that the extraordinary delay in this project has raised some fundamental policy issues which must be addressed like whether large projects of this nature should have arbitration clauses embedding in them which provides incentive to contractors for making exorbitant claims as has been seen in other matters as well, even when the contractor is at fault.
He added that similar instance was seen in the construction of the underpass near Bharat Mandapam by the same construction agency, in the face of glaring engineering defects which should have caused national embarrassment ahead of G20 Summit and all executing department should be directed to ensure that necessary regulatory approvals are in place prior to award of construction to avoid any such delays.
The matter pertaining to the previous Arvind Kejriwal government that had first started the project was earlier discussed in the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) meeting held in July, under the CM’s chairpersonship.
The EFC had decided that a thorough inquiry be initiated by the ACB, Directorate of Vigilance (DoV), Delhi government, for approval and acceptance of arbitration awards by authorities not competent to accept; delay in execution of the project and fixing responsibility of the erring officers.
Subsequently, the file was referred to DoV by PWD for onward referral to ACB as per EFC decision and direction of Chief Minister.
The CM had observed that “Action may be taken as per the decision taken in EFC meeting” Accordingly, a proposal of DoV was placed before Lt. Governor for approval and direction to PWD for referring the case to the ACB for an inquiry.
Accordingly, in pursuance of directions of CM Gupta and decision taken in EFC meeting, a proposal of DoV was placed before Lt. Governor for approval and direction to PWD for referring the case to the ACB to conduct thorough inquiry.
Fixing onus on officers
The Expenditure Finance Committee had decided that a thorough inquiry be initiated by the ACB, Directorate of Vigilance, for approval and acceptance of arbitration awards by authorities not competent to accept; delay in execution of the project and fixing responsibility of erring officers.
