State strikes at the root of corruption

A major government intervention to bust the contractor-beneficiary committee nexus that was allegedly rampant in local self-government institutions across the State for implementing Plan projects has yielded a tender savings worth ₹239.60 crore during the past one year.

The savings, earned in awarding works, are attributed to the amendments made to the Plan project implementation guidelines and a resolution to adopt e-tender for all works costing above ₹5 lakh.

On launching the second edition of the People’s Plan Campaign, the State Planning Board took the lead in amending the guidelines and it was primarily aimed at striking at the roots of corruption allegedly prevalent in urban and rural local bodies, mainly in tendering and executing development works by committees of beneficiaries in each locale.

The amended guidelines mandated that local bodies either float tender or go for e-tender for all works costing between ₹50,000 and ₹5 lakh and only e-tender those above that limit. It has put an end to the system of the beneficiary committees taking up the responsibility of implementing works in different scales.

Functioning of the beneficiary committees had drawn flak in the first edition of the People’s Plan Campaign. There were complaints that a majority of them lacked the expertise to execute major works and hence after taking up the responsibility, it was handed over to contractors for a fixed commission. Some of the committees had even functioned as benamis of contractors. This system had set the ground for graft and it also had a great bearing on the quality of the works. Though the campaign had many other palpable gains to its credit, it helped break the contractor-bureaucrat nexus and offered an opportunity for the stakeholders to prioritise their development needs.

“In this context we decided to weed out the scope for graft in awarding works to committees and now works below the rate of ₹50,000 are now being taken up only by hospital development committees and parent-teacher associations of schools. This has helped plug the room for corruption in local bodies and also led to savings of Plan fund,” says Planning Board member K.N. Harilal.

In order to overcome the bane of corruption and incentivise the functioning of elected members, the government should seriously think of enhancing their remuneration and also apportioning a share of the gains such as tender savings with them, says Mr. Harilal.