Coimbatore: DMK MLA N Karthik and opposition leaders on Saturday sought a Central government investigation into the alleged irregularities in civic works undertaken by the contractors of the city corporation. TOI had reported on February 6 that a corporation contractor was under the lens of the commissioner of municipal administration for corruption.
Karthik, who is from the Singanallur constituency, said, "For the past three years, various reports had come out regarding the irregularities in Coimbatore corporation, which included misappropriation of funds and irregularities in issuing contracts. The CMA is now holding an inquiry against a contractor named Raja, who is a part of P Senthil and Co, a company that is run by the relatives of rural and municipal administration minister SP Velumani. All other contractors should be brought under the purview of the investigation, which should be conducted by a Central government agency like CBI," he demanded.
Meanwhile, Velumani denied the charges. "There is no irregularity and no probe," he told TOI.
Officials close to the know-how said that the probe was ordered only because the contractor fell out of favour of the local minister. Relatives of Raja told TOI that he had taken contracts to the tune of Rs 80-100cr in the past couple of years for various civic projects such as roads, water pipelines, drains and streetlights. The probe was ordered after a petition was sent stating that several works were not carried out as per norms and some were not completed.
But, corporation officials said that they had audit reports of all the work and ruled out the charges. "The probe is being conducted in Chennai and all the files are sent to CMA G Prakash," said an official.
