The report of the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) that is sufficient to expose the alleged nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and contractors was based on the corruption in Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKDVC). The report had pointed out the pre-qualification norms introduced before the tender was passed to award the contracts to selected firms. For qualification, bogus certificates of work-done were furnished by some contractors, while no tenders were issued in some cases. Sub-standard computers were bought which were not as per required specification.
The MKVDC was formed in 1996 to create an irrigation potential of 21.58 lakh hectares. The idea behind the formation of the MKVDC was to utilise Maharashtra’s share of 594 TMC water from the Krishna River, allocated to it by the Krishna Water dispute tribunal (KWDT).
The estimated cost of completing the 421 projects in April 1996 when the MKVDC was set up was `7,100 crore, and was given a stipulated time of five years for the completion of all these projects.
“The confidential report was sent to my senior officers to take a decision on the open inquiry that would expose the modus operandi used by the contractors and the persons involved in it. But, no action was taken on the findings of the report,” said S.M. Mushrif, who had prepared the report and was the then Pune superintendent of ACB.
“The irregularities were being made by using three methods. Forming group of contractors, cost escalation of the projects and managing the terms of the tenders so that only a handful of favourite firms were able to get the contracts,” Mr Mushrif told The Asian Age. Mr Mushrif, incidentally, was also the whistleblower in the Telgi stamp paper scam.
According to sources, the ACB report reveals that an unsuccessful bidder lodged a complaint with the MKVDC, saying that the company, which was allotted the work of Dhom Balkawadi Project, Satara district, used another company’s documents to qualify.
It further stated that the company that bagged the contract of Temghar Project, Pune district, had also allegedly furnished forged documents. Instead of investigating it, officials worked out a formula and divided the work between the companies. In this case, the tender of the third and only other bidding company was not even opened.
Likewise, a company could not get the Jambhoree Project work initially. The same company joined hands with an unregistered company to bag the contract.