CBI may probe CWG mess after Games over: CVC
While the Delhi government and the Commonwealth Games 2010 Organising Committee have been dismissing the Central Vigilance Commission’s reports of alleged irregularities in 16 CWG projects, the CVC is preparing to hand over the reports to the Central Bureau of Investigation for further investigation. However, the exercise will be carried out after the Games.
Highly placed sources in the CVC said the commission will submit the details to the CBI for further investigation by the first week of November. The CVC is also in the process of checking more CWG projects to see if quality has been compromised or other irregularities have been resorted to while completing the projects.
CVC officials have found alleged financial irregularities and other modes of corruption in at least 16 cases pertaining to the CWG. The commission added that according to their findings, officials of the Commonwealth Games committee, Delhi government and other civic agencies might be deeply involved in these cases. “Once the commission is through with the findings and other details, it will be handed over to the CBI, which will proceed further,” said a CVC official.
Amid various irregularities detected by the CVC it has come to light that the lawn-bowl track in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex was allegedly built at a cost of Rs 1.35 crores, which is six to seven times more than the actual cost.
In its report on the 16 projects under the scanner, the CVC has made some very critical observations on how ineligible agencies were awarded work. For instance, four firms from Australia had joined hands with a Mumbai-based company to form a construction consortium. The consortium was considered “pre-qualified” on the basis of the experience and expertise of a particular firm — part of the consortium — and was allowed to bid. However, before the final bid, the same consortium presented its case in the name of a different venture and was awarded the work. But it was later found that the company whose expertise was used to get permission to bid was not represented in the new consortium at all. “While the work was later cancelled, it led to cost and time overruns,” observed the CVC, adding that there was every evidence of the Mumbai-based firm being favoured by the agencies awarding the contract.
The CVC has also noted that tender amounts were inflated by overwriting or cutting on the tender documents even after they were opened.
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