Jal Board to weed out dishonest contractors and employees

September 18, 2011 11:21 am | Updated 11:21 am IST - NEW DELHI:

The Delhi Jal Board is all set to get cracking against “fraudulent” practices that involve its contractors and officials. Having unearthed evidence of forged claims, incomplete and substandard work and several such accusations against its contractors and some of its own employees, the Board has prepared a list of 46 contractors who will soon face the music for irregularities.

An investigation by the DJB chief vigilance officer carried out recently has thrown up names of 46 contractors who were responsible for submitting fake bills and claiming money for work that was either not carried out, or left incomplete, said a source.

While the Board will soon issue notices to these contractors before it initiates the procedure for their debarment, it has also begun an inquiry to probe the involvement of its own staff. “There is a suspicion that the erring contractors were able to pull off the scam with the connivance of some DJB officials. Even if the officials, mostly the junior engineers and other field staff, were not involved per se, they are still under the scanner for not doing their work properly. Had they inspected what was happening on the ground, checked the work and verified the receipts, the fraud wouldn't have gone unnoticed for so long,” the source said.

The issue of forged receipts was also raised in March when the Delhi Legislative Assembly was in session. Congress MLA Subhash Chopra had tabled papers indicating that the DJB had paid contractors for the same work more than once.

Later, in June, the DJB officials filed a complaint against a contractor for defrauding them of over Rs.2 crore. The fraud came to light when the officials noticed a discrepancy in the bank account and realised that huge sums of money were being withdrawn from their account to the Corporation Bank. The contractor had been presenting fake electronic invoices with the signatures of the DJB officials and managed to siphon off Rs.2.18 crore.

On Friday, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered cases against 10 DJB officials and five contractors for alleged irregularities in a project for installing drinking water tube wells across the city.

Declining to comment on the CBI's action and the impending debarring of 46 contractors, DJB chief executive officer Ramesh Negi said: “The Board is already working on weeding out those involved in discrepancies. We are working on improving the overall functioning of the department. For example, to do away with irregularities in the contract system, we announced that all engineering graduates who do not have any previous work experience but have scored at least 50 per cent marks can apply for contractual works. In the past six months more than 30 civil, mechanical and electrical engineers have applied for various works,” he said. Such newcomers would be allowed to bid for works of up to Rs.2 lakh.

Referring to the steps being taken to make contractors more accountable, Mr. Negi said: “As on date, for all works above Rs.1 crore we have third party review. The work is inspected by an independent team like RITES. But now we have made it possible to monitor the work online. Also, all contractors will have to mandatorily put up the details of the work undertaken on the DJB's website every 15 days. These updates will then be monitored by senior officials and supervisors.”

To ensure strict compliance to rules, contractors will also be put on probation for two years and will have to deposit Rs.50,000 with the Board for the duration of the probation. If they finish the work as per the laid down rules they get to reclaim their money. For poor performance, however, the deposit will be forfeited.

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