THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Having detected serious irregularities in road construction during a statewide inspection on Wednesday, the vigilance has decided to recommend measures to plug systemic corruption in departments engaged in construction and renovation. That includes the public works department (PWD) and the Kerala Water Authority.
A highly-placed source said one of the prime suggestions will be to segregate duties — such as preparation of estimates, execution of work and passing of bills — to separate wings. This will help weed out corruption embedded within the system, the source said. Another key recommendation will be to hand over auditing to a separate wing or to a third party, including private players, if required. “During the inspection of 112 roads, serious discrepancies were found. On record, some roads had 12 inches of tar and six layers. But on inspection, they were found to have a tar thickness of just an inch.
The officials who had monitored the work gave false reports, and on that basis, bills were cleared. If this fraud is not called to account, it will result in substantial loss to the state exchequer,” said the source. After the officers concerned prepare estimates, they themselves or their colleagues execute or monitor the work, the source pointed out. After the completion of work, employees from the same department clear the bill. “This link is proving problematic in most cases.
Estimate preparation to passing of bills come under one roof. This scenario has to change if systemic corruption has to be purged,” the source added. The vigilance inspected roads belonging to PWD and local bodies. It was found that many of the roads were built without using grade metal and adequate amount of tar, mentioned in the tender notice. The thickness of the tarmac was also manipulated in many places to give pecuniary benefits to the contractors, which is done with the assistance of government engineers, the vigilance found.
The preliminary examination revealed that most of the roads built thus are damaged within the guarantee period of six months. However, corrupt government officials refloat tenders after six months for road repair, thereby resulting in huge financial loss to the government. Samples of the roads that had worn out within six months of laying or renovation were examined by the vigilance sleuths, after the core of the tarmac was cut open.
IRREGULARITIES IN WORK
In the inspection conducted by the vigilance on roads belonging to the works department and local bodies, it was found that many of them were built without using grade metal and adequate amount of tar, as prescribed in the tender document.