The Hindu : Corrupt PWD staff pocket BSNL money for road repairs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Corrupt PWD staff pocket BSNL money for road repairs

By A. Harikumar

ALAPPUZHA April 1. A major share of the huge sums deposited by the BSNL with the State Public Works Department (PWD) annually for the rectification of roads damaged by the laying of cables seems to have spilled into the pockets of corrupt officials in the department.

The apprehension is based on the poor condition of roads and shoulders (untarred portion along the sides of roads) that have been repaired by the department. It is pointed out that several persons had died in the last one year in accidents resulting from unfilled and partly filled trenches along the sides of the road and the poorly repaired roads which had been dug up.

The amount being deposited by the BSNL with the PWD annually is learnt to be over Rs.40 crores currently. The huge payments made by the BSNL are a result of the recent spurt in cable laying activities.

It is noted that the embezzlement of precious funds by corrupt officials is hitting development works when the State Government is approaching the World Bank and other agencies for loans for road development.

While the BSNL is often blamed for the poor condition of roads after repairs and the unfilled trenches, the fact is that it is the PWD which undertakes the work. Moreover, the BSNL is allowed to dig only after depositing a fixed amount for rectification with the PWD. The fee for undertaking digging on the tarred surface is Rs.440 per square metre and Rs.47 for the shoulder area.

According to the PWD guidelines for refilling the trenches along the sides, loose sand has to be removed to a depth of 25 cm from the ground level and the space should be refilled with gravel and be made compact as per specifications. In the case of repairing the tarred portion cut for cable laying, in addition to the above stipulation metaling needs to be performed twice.

The metaling should be done to a thickness of 20 cm using metals of size 60 mm and 36 mm and should be made compact to a thickness of 15 cm. The tarring should be done above this to a thickness of 20 mm. It is pointed out that the corrupt PWD officials often flout these technical specifications for repair works to pocket the amount.

Absence of stipulations to complete repair works in a fixed timeframe is also being misused by the corrupt officials, sources said. Assistant engineers in the department who are entrusted with the works submit the estimate only months after digging had been done.

Sources noted that the chief technical examiner's office, which is authorised to verify the works, often functions hand-in-glove with the corrupt engineers. This results in corruption going unchecked. The vigilance wing of the police, which also has the powers to verify the work done, is accused of abetting the corrupt officials.

According to the sources, after siphoning off the funds, the ingenious corrupt officials often arrange other works utilising the State funds on the same stretch of the road where digging had been done to forestall any possibility of detection of malpractice. This often leads to additional loss to the Government.

At the same time, in the case of digging involving private sector companies, PWD officials do not have much of an opportunity to pilfer large funds as the repair works are done by the private parties themselves. However, here also ingenious officials have ways to ensure their share as the PWD has to certify that the work was satisfactory.

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