Haryana: Anil Vij orders vigilance probe into fraud worth crores in Faridabad, Panchkula civic bodies

“The state government has decided to refer the matter pertaining to a scam worth crores of rupees in municipal bodies of Faridabad and Panchkula to the state vigilance bureau. The decision of a vigilance probe has been taken to ensure an impartial investigation into these scams,” Vij said.

“The Vigilance Bureau shall investigate the role of officials of Faridabad municipal body who disbursed crores of rupees for the works that were never carried out,” he added.

Giving details about the scams, Vij said, “Information was gathered by talking to various Municipal Councillors in Faridabad who said several works for which payments were made were actually never carried out in their respective municipal wards. According to a complaint, it was found that a total sum of Rs 23.79 crore was paid for 388 works. However, councillors informed that the officials and contractors failed to provide evidence for even a single work that was carried out. Without carrying out any work, payment vouchers were prepared by officials in connivance with contractors, fake entries were recorded in the records, fake payment bills were prepared in connivance with high-rank officials and no inspection reports were found in the records. All these aspects shall be probed by the state vigilance bureau.”

Talking about the Panchkula municipal body scam, Vij said, “The scam that took place in Bio-Remediation of Legacy Waste Scheme of Panchkula civic body has also been handed over to the state vigilance bureau. Preliminary information reveals that crores of rupees were siphoned off in the name of waste management. Councillor of Panchkula’s Ward number 2 and various other councillors had demanded a thorough investigation in the matter. The complainants have alleged that a single person had siphoned off crores of rupees in the name of multiple firms in connivance with officials.”

Vij added, “Only two agencies participated in this project in Panchkula. However, the owners of both the agencies were found to be the same person. Similarly, the tender was allotted to the agency without deposit of the performance guarantee worth Rs 2 crore. No quality control laboratory was set up, nor any CCTVs were installed in the backup store. There was no record prepared regarding waste management and anomalies were found in weighing the garbage as well. While the capacity of Panchkula’s civic body for collecting waste is 400-500 MT, payments were shown to be made for 800-1,200 MT of waste. While both the agencies involved in this project belong to the same family, yet Panchkula civic body made payment of Rs 5 crore in connivance with officials. All these aspects shall also be probed by the state vigilance bureau.”