The Union Home Ministry is studying the Shunglu Committee report on alleged irregularities in executing various infrastructure projects related to the Commonwealth Games by the Delhi government.
The report, running into three volumes, was referred to the Ministry by the Prime Minister's Office last Monday for further action. The PMO directed the Ministry to reply to queries raised in the Shunglu report on works done by the Delhi government.
Well-placed sources in the Ministry said Home Minister P. Chidambaram would take a view on the findings of the Shunglu Committee report referred by the PMO as various projects were executed by different departments and some of them come under the jurisdiction of Urban Development Ministry, some under the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games.
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“The Home Ministry does not have experts to evaluate the findings of the report. It has to be seen as to how far we can go and with what degree of competence. The Home Minister will take a call on it. Anyway we will abide by the directive given to us by the PMO,” senior officials of the Ministry said.
Sheila Dikshit blamed
In its report on projects to upgrade city infrastructure, especially related to road and transport, the Shunglu Committee noted that there was no special preparation by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and blamed Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for her decisions that led to delay and subsequent cost escalation in CWG-related projects.
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“All projects require a host of preparatory actions before the start of the project on ground...These actions have to be initiated well in advance as they take considerably long time... the work should have started during the year 2005-06,” the report said.
The report said that there was “no special preparation by the GNCTD despite constrained timeframe.” It said that unfair cost advantage was given to contractors due to compressed timeframe and noted indication of “collusive bidding” by tenders floated by the Public Works Department (PWD).
According to a conservative estimate by the panel, works worth over Rs.5,500 crore were carried out by the GNCTD, and about 75 per cent of them were executed by Delhi's PWD.
The major projects handled by the PWD, apart from three games and training venues (Thyagaraj, Chhatrasal and Ludlow Castle), included Barapullah elevated corridor, Ring Road Bypass, U.P. Link Road, Streetscaping, Street Lighting, Signage and 21 flyovers.