Vigilance to seek CM nod for action against two IAS officers

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, August 22

The Vigilance Bureau will seek permission from Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to proceed against two senior IAS officers who allegedly played a major role in illegal allotment of works in the Irrigation Department.

The VB had, last week, chargesheeted six engineers and a contractor in the case pertaining to allegedly twisting of e-tendering rules for projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore to favour a contractor, Gurinder Singh.

Indicating the involvement of certain Akali leaders in the case, a senior VB officer said: “Questionable projects of this scale could not have been cleared without the involvement of secretary-level officers and backing of their political bosses. We need the CM’s permission to proceed against IAS officers.”

The VB, in its report already submitted for the registration of a case against the contractor and six engineers, including two former chief engineers, said: “Senior government officers misused their official position and connived with Gurinder Singh to cause a huge loss to the state.” The report also said: “The role of senior bureaucrats, who were heading the department at that time, would also be probed thoroughly.”

Interestingly, the names of senior officers, who were connected with irrigation projects during the tenure of the previous government, also cropped up in context with opposition to the appointment of Suresh Kumar as Chief Principal Secretary to the CM recently.

The VB is also looking into allegations of partiality against Pushpinder Garg, Chief Vigilance Officer of the department, for ignoring complaints against Gurinder Singh.

He is said to have “filed” all communication he received seeking a probe into the matter. The role of contractors Pushpinder Singh Sidhu and Khara Contractors, who had allegedly submitted manipulated tenders, is also being probed official sources said.