Private firm in Gurugram under scanner for C&D waste fraud

24 Dec 2021 CW Team

It has been claimed that the corruption, which could be of Rs 50 crore, includes senior MCG authorities. As part of its investigation, the committee will have to discover if permission had been taken from the government or any other competent authority before giving the work to the private company and whether bills presented by the agency to MCG were justified or not.

The firm will also have to explain why construction and demolition waste can still be seen along different roads of the city.

Authorities said that the probe panel was created by commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja following orders from the urban local bodies department. The claimed irregularities came to light after an RTI activist complained, charging former and current authorities of MCG of being hand-in-glove with the private company in approving inflated bills.

The probe committee has Thakur Lal Sharma, chief engineer; Satish Yadav, joint commissioner; Vijay Kumar, chief accounts officer; and Savita Choudhry, district attorney. They will have to form a report in 10 days. The executive engineer-SBM will render the required documents and the records to the committee. The committee will investigate all the elements of the case and present a detailed report within 10 days.

The RTI activist has claimed that the work of the private company was not observed by the citizen supervisory committee, and it displayed the dumping sites incorrectly in zones 1 and 2 when they should have been either the Basai waste facility or any other site in zones 3 and 4.

It was also claimed that the firm incorrectly showed 1,000 entries of vehicles for collecting and transporting C&D waste. None of these vehicles, as stated in the entry records, had a Haryana registration but were all from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, as per the complaint.

Image Source

A four-member committee has been formed by the municipal commissioner to investigate claimed anomalies in the collection, transportation and dumping of construction and demolition (C&D) waste by a private company hired by the civic body in 2019. It has been claimed that the corruption, which could be of Rs 50 crore, includes senior MCG authorities. As part of its investigation, the committee will have to discover if permission had been taken from the government or any other competent authority before giving the work to the private company and whether bills presented by the agency to MCG were justified or not. The firm will also have to explain why construction and demolition waste can still be seen along different roads of the city. Authorities said that the probe panel was created by commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja following orders from the urban local bodies department. The claimed irregularities came to light after an RTI activist complained, charging former and current authorities of MCG of being hand-in-glove with the private company in approving inflated bills. The probe committee has Thakur Lal Sharma, chief engineer; Satish Yadav, joint commissioner; Vijay Kumar, chief accounts officer; and Savita Choudhry, district attorney. They will have to form a report in 10 days. The executive engineer-SBM will render the required documents and the records to the committee. The committee will investigate all the elements of the case and present a detailed report within 10 days. The RTI activist has claimed that the work of the private company was not observed by the citizen supervisory committee, and it displayed the dumping sites incorrectly in zones 1 and 2 when they should have been either the Basai waste facility or any other site in zones 3 and 4. It was also claimed that the firm incorrectly showed 1,000 entries of vehicles for collecting and transporting C&D waste. None of these vehicles, as stated in the entry records, had a Haryana registration but were all from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, as per the complaint. Image Source