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HMWS & SB Multi-Crore Scam Unearthed
Posted by Pradeep Sadanapalli | July 23, 2007 | 690 views
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Loading ...The vigilance and enforcement department has unearthed a multi-crore scam in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) involving officials at various stages.
The officials of the stores at Goshamahal and Hydernagar at Kukatpally allegedly tampered with records and manipulated indents and sold ductile iron (DI) pipes and other material to contractors who are executing water pipeline works in various municipalities in the state.
Official sources told STOI here on Saturday that it was detected that the scam had been going on since 2003 and nearly 20 officials, including one general manager, three deputy general managers and three managers had a role in the scam.
The water board gives material to contractors from the stores after producing indents. Managers of the divisions concerned give indents to the contractors after approval from higher authorities.
But some of the officials submitted indents for works which were completed, generated two indents for one work with different dates and names of the contractors and tampered with indents to draw more material from the stores.
For instance in Fatesha Nagar in old city, the board had completed the water pipeline works (cast iron) for 200 metres in the year 2000. But fake indents were generated for the same work in 2005 for 400 metres length pipes and Rs 8 lakh was collected from the board.
For another work at Jahanuma, an indent was given for a 22-metre pipes and the executive engineer also approved the same.
But the indent was tampered with by pre-fixing 9 to 22 and changed to 922 metres. The value of this 900 additional length is estimated about Rs 4.5 lakh.
For the same pipeline work at Amman Nagar-B in the Gowlipura section, the clever officials generated two indents and took away an extra 477 metres of DI pipes of 100 diametre.
Apart from DI pipes, other material like valves, bends, T-s and ‘pigleds’ were also taken on the fake indents and indent numbers.
“Our investigation revealed that the material (pipes) is being sold to private contractors in various municipalities. For example, about 22 contractors in Kapra municipality purchased material from water board officials through a broker,” P V S S Ramakrishna, superintendents of police (Hyderabad), Vigilance and Enforcement Wing, told TOI on Saturday.
Similarly, municipal contractors in Guntur and Mancherial also purchased DI pipe lines belonging to the water board through a broker. The stamps, unique numbers and specifications tallied with the water board material.
The vigilance sleuths randomly checked 17 works taken up in the city in the last four years. Of the total, the water board officials could give only 10 works records and there were no records for rest of the works.
“We will recommend action against the officials responsible and contractors for purchasing government material,” the SP said.
SOURCES:
Times Of India
Topics: What's UP, Govt Failures, The Facts, Reports |
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