No headway in probe into ‘bitumen scam’

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, November 12

Investigation by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) of the Punjab Police into a bitumen scam worth crores in road works carried out by contractors and construction agencies from January 2013 to December 2016 on behalf of the Municipal Corporation has made no headway in the past one and a half years.

That the MC officials ‘involved’ and even senior officials of other government departments, including the PWD, had adopted a ‘non-cooperative attitude to scuttle the ongoing inquiry is evident from several letters and reminders sent by the Vigilance Bureau to the MC, and other government departments seeking details related to the bitumen scam without any success.

It was in early 2017 that a complaint (No. 58/2017) was lodged with the VB alleging that in the course of construction, recarpeting and repair of roads in the city during the period of 2013 to 2016, the contractors allotted these works had not used the specified quantity of bitumen, obviously in connivance with the MC officials.

The complaint also said that the nexus of contractors and MC officials had siphoned off several crores of public money through inflated bills during this period.

“A large quantity of bitumen thus saved was used for construction/development work in private colonies or work allotted by other government departments while money is claimed from the MC,” the complaint had said.

A recent reminder sent (on October 26, 2018) by the SSP of the VB to the MC, Construction Division No. 1 and 3 of the PWD, Provincial Division of the PWD and civil wing of the Punjab Mandi Board stated that information sought vide office letter sent in July, November and December 2017 and again in October 2018 related to the bitumen scam was not received till now and it should be provided immediately.

According to the complaint, there have been instances where in place of actual bills of bitumen, photocopies of the old bills were resubmitted with the running bills by contractors which went on to prove that certain MC officials (and the political leaders) were in connivance with the contractors.

After a prima facie inquiry into the allegations levelled in the complaint, the VB had asked the then Municipal Commissioner to provide details of work orders, measurement books (MBs) and certified copies of bills of all road works carried out from January 2013 onwards. 

However, even after the Complaint and Enquiry branch of the MC had written a letter (on July 12, 2017), to executive engineers (buildings and roads) of all four zones in the city to provide the record sought by the Bureau at an early date, no effort seemed to have been made by any MC official to provide the record of road work required to proceed further into the investigation. 

Highly placed sources revealed that the supervisory and other officials of the MC, alleged to be in connivance with the contractors charged with bitumen scam, were trying to cover their tracks or fudge the records in a desperate bid to stop the truth from coming out.