Vigilance probe ordered into construction work at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, March 23

The Board of Governors (BoG) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda, has decided to get a Vigilance inquiry conducted into the construction of buildings on the campus.

The action has been initiated after the third party audit report of WAPCOS, which reveals that the total cost of executing the work is more than the tendered amount.

On February 24, the BoG, headed by the Technical Education Secretary IAS Vikas Garg, decided to make a reference to the Vigilance Bureau through an administrative department for inquiry.

In the meeting, construction wing incharge Prof Sanjeev Aggarwal said WAPCOS had submitted its final techno financial report, which had been examined by the executive team. Based on the report, payment made and bank guarantee encashment etc, it has been concluded that a recovery of Rs 6.70 crore should be made from the contractor, ASC Builders Private Limited. The BoG then decided to go ahead with the recovery by issuing a notice to the contractor along with the WAPCOS report.

It has also been decided that the VC has been authorised to make further payment to WAPCOS, subject to maximum 90% of the agreement amount. This payment of fees of WAPCOS should be adjusted against the deduction made from the contractor for not appointing a quality control agency.

Meanwhile, university VC Prof Buta Singh Sidhu said: “In the BoG meeting, it has been decided to conduct a Vigilance inquiry into the work executed by the contractor pertaining to the construction of the buildings.”

In 2020, taking a serious note of the inflated cost of works at the university, its then BoG chairman IAS Anurag Verma had ordered a third-party audit of the entire project for the construction of an administrative block, lecture theatre and departments.

The issue surfaced after the contractor wrote to the Principal Secretary, seeking the payment for the pending bills in August 2020. Against the estimated cost of Rs 115 crore, the work was awarded for Rs 98.31 crore. During the execution of the work, the scope was enhanced to Rs 115 crore, which was released to the contractor. But due to further enhancement, the project cost rose to Rs 140 crore.

The BoG chairman had formed a panel, which pointed out that the additional work was executed without the order along with various other irregularities in its detailed report sent to him.

Need to recover Rs 6.70 cr from contractor

Based on the techno financial report of the audit firm, payment made and bank guarantee encashment, it has been concluded that Rs 6.70 crore should recovered from the contractor, ASC Builders Pvt Ltd. The BoG then decided to go ahead with the recovery by issuing a notice to the contractor.