Enhancement in tenders for development works by Panipat civic body under scanner

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Panipat, May 21

The enhancement in the tenders of development works is not new in municipal corporations (MCs). After the arrest of a former Sonepat MC Commissioner in the matter of the enhancement of a tender in the Sonepat civic body from Rs 52 crore to Rs 87 crore, the enhancement in the tenders in the Panipat MC has also come under lens.

The Faridabad police SIT recently arrested IAS officer Dharmender Singh in a corruption case and for allegedly giving nod to the enhancement of a tender from Rs 52 crore to Rs 87 crore of the MC office building during his tenure as Sonepat MC Commissioner.

Similarly in Panipat, the CM flying squad had unearthed an enhancement scam of tenders in November 2022 here and sent its report to the government.

“As per the norms, any tender can only be enhanced up to 10 per cent earlier, but the government changed the enhancement in the tender agreement rules in February this year,” said an official of the civic body.

Pramod Vij, MLA, Panipat Urban, has raised the issue of the enhancement in tenders by the MC officials three to five times illegally before the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Following the complaint, the CM flying squad conducted a raid at the MC office here in November last year and sealed documents of around 74 development works in which tenders were enhanced by the MC officials, which had been done between 2017 and 2021.

The CM flying squad team, after examining the tenders’ documents, found the enhancement to be more than the double of the actual tender amount, sources said.

“An inquiry has been conducted regarding the enhancement of the tenders by the MC Panipat. The enhancement was found during the inquiry,” said Ajit Singh, DSP, CM flying squad.

Big scam in civic body

Enhancement in tenders is a big scam in the MC and I have even collected proofs of around 70-80 such tenders in which enhancement was done three to five times more by the MC officials. — Pramod Vij, MLA, Panipat, urban