DVAC begins probe into irregularities in water supply project

Samples of pipelines lifted and sent for lab test

Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Friday dug out pipelines in various residential areas in Kannampalayam Town Panchayat following complaints that there were irregularities in executing a drinking water supply project.

According to police sources, the complaint was that during 2012-15, when a drinking water supply project was executed, the then Town Panchayat Chairman ‘Thalapathi’ Murugesh and officials connived to cheat the State Government by submitting bills for areas where no pipeline was laid.

In areas where the town panchayat took up the work, they let the contractor use inferior quality pipes and not the ones that was agreed as per the tender.

The then Chairman ‘Thalapathi’ Murugesh, a DMK member, was arrested recently and released on bail for staging a protest in front of a gutkha manufacturing unit in the area and arrested again, a few days ago, based on a confession statement given by the manager of the gutkha manufacturing unit.

The sources said that the DVAC was also probing complaints related to drinking water pipeline works taken up in Sulur, Irugur, Pallapalayam, Mopripalayam and Karumathampatty town panchayats as well. In the six local bodies, around 350 km pipeline was laid during the period.

The DVAC officials, who are probing the case based on a complaint filed by a retired official, had lifted samples of the pipelines and sent those for lab test, the sources said. DVAC officials said the case was under investigation and that they could not disclose details at this stage.

Sources in the office of the Assistant Director, Town Panchayats, Coimbatore, said the DVAC probe in Kannampalayam was related to supplying of groundwater from borewell to the residents. The DVAC had summoned the Kannampalayam Town Panchayat executive officer and engineer concerned and the latter accompanied them on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Assistant Director’s office had also initiated a probe. The sources said that this was related to levy of property tax for the gutkha manufacturing unit between 2012 and 2016. The then Kannampalayam Town Panchayat administration under Murugesh had levied a meagre amount as property tax for a building that was spread over 20,000 sq.ft.

In the first place, the manufacturing unit ought to have taken the Local Planning Authority’s approval for construction, but it did not. The then Town Panchayat administration overlooked the illegality and assessed the unit for property tax. This was purely a department inquiry and independent of the DVAC probe, the sources also said.