NGO submits 3000-page documents on Gosikhurd irregularities

NAGPUR: A local NGO which is crusading against corruption has filed a voluminous with the unit of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) here which is already investigating graft in the affairs of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), executing irrigation projects in Vidarbha region.

City NGO Jan Manch had filed a complaint against a group of contractors who had bagged an order in the Inter-District Irrigation Gosikhurd project. It also handed over documents running into more than 3,000 pages to support their claim with the ACB Nagpur.

However, Jan Manch did not disclose the identity of the contractors named in the complaint.

"It is up to ACB to divulge the names, but it could also hamper investigations," the organisation said.

The complaint speaks volumes about the corruption in VIDC. Also, The papers obtained through RTI give comprehensive details about the case.

"The presentation has also been made in such a user-friendly manner that even a layman can corroborate the claims on the basis of the documents. It can also act as a handbook for investigating other cases," advocate Anil Kilor, president of Jan Manch, told PTI.

He said the documents submitted are only sample case and related to about one particular tender while there were hundreds of tenders floated in the past, he claimed.

The case relates to a contract in the Gosikhurd dam project for which three private firms had bid. It was found that all the three companies were interlinked. There were common directors, with same addresses, among the three private limited companies.

The evaluation committee of VIDC, which consisted of six officials, brazenly tweaked rules to accommodate these bidders.

The norms say that if not more than three parties qualify in the technical bidding then the conditions can be relaxed up to 20 per cent. However, in this case the norms, which cover aspects like work experience and financial standing, were eased by over 50 per cent.

For example, if in the normal course a contractor has to meet conditions A and B, under the new terms VIDC allowed it to meet either condition A or B. The papers also prove how costs were fudged to the benefit of contractors.