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| Fraud in PHE deptt is bigger than 2G spectrum scam: PAC | | | Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Dec 8: Seven members of the committee on public accounts (PAC), all MLAs, have taken strong exception to the alleged sub-standard purchase of pipes by PHE department, saying the amount of loss caused on this account in the state is bigger than the 2G spectrum scam.
Some of them unanimously demanded a CBI probe into the alleged fraud to bring the facts to light and book the culprits.
The meeting, held Wednesday, was attended by Mohammad Sharief Niaz, Abdul Gaffar Sofi, Mansoor Hussain, Jagdish Raj Sapolia, Najib Suhrawardy and Naresh Kumar Gupta, with Chaman Lal Gupta in the chair.
They said the sub-standard purchase of pipes was a big issue and the state needed not to any waste time in handing it over to CBI for investigation.
Alleging that vested interest of officials was also involved and the contractors had supplied poor quality pipes in connivance with them, some members pressed for an immediate probe by the country's premier investigating agency, according to one of them.
At the outset, the fraud seemed bigger than the 2G spectrum scam, they alleged, asserting that corruption was rampant in the department.
The member said they were surprised to find that supply orders were given to all the contractors who had participated in the tendering process. "This is in violation of the set norms as the supply order is given only to the contractor whose rates are on the lowest side," he added.
PAC members decided to visit the places in the state where pipes were laid for the random checking of their quality.
The PAC also gave a set of six questions to the PHE authorities but the latter did not reply any of them, the member said.
The questions are:
i) What benefit the local suppliers have got due to tax exemption as compared to the outsiders?
ii) What is the divisionwise distribution of pipes of 39 consignments procured by the department during 2008?
iii) What is the detail of pipes procured during 2009-2010 and 2010-2011?
iv) What is the variation of rates from consignment 1 to 39 as procured by the department during 2008?
v) Which is the present place of posting of the executive engineer who refused to receive the consignment of sub-standard pipes and what was the "reward" given to him?
vi) What are the reasons for giving supply order to those whose tenders were rejected during the tendering process?
The member said there was an open loot of the government exchequer in the PHE department.
He said if anyone in Delhi, or in the state tried to protect the corrupt officials, it would mean they were part of the fraud.
He said the time had come when government should act strongly against the corrupt elements and promote those who were honest and men of proven track record. |
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