Indian Express 02.08.2010
Blacklisted contractors got over 70 projects
Khushboo Sandhu Tags : corporation Posted: Mon Aug 02 2010, 04:07 hrs
Chandigarh: The two contractors whose names had figured in the cement scam involving the Municipal Corporation had been issued a large number of contracts by the civic body. In the last three years, the two contractors — A K Sood Engineer and Contractor and Sarvpriya Building Products — had been awarded more than 70 contracts. This was revealed in a reply to a question asked by Councillor J S Kang in the House Meet held on Friday.A K Sood Engineer and Contractor was allotted 22 works in 2007-08; in the following year, 23 more were allotted; and in 2009-10, 11 projects were allotted. Sarvpriya Building Products was given nine contracts in 2007-08, eight in 2008-09 and one in 2009-10. These were primarily for carpeting roads and laying paver blocks.
The cement scam that involved the two had come to light in March this year. The contract for ‘Improvement and Development of Existing Infrastructure of Sector-17’ was allotted to A K Sood Engineer and Contractor, who then sublet it to Sarvpriya Building Products. The discrepancy came to light after the UT Vigilance Cell arrested the contractor while pilfering 200 bags of cement from a store in Sector 17. The two contractors were blacklisted and the councillors, in the House Meet held a few months ago, demanded work allotted to them be cancelled.
In Friday’s House Meet, Kang said: “The officials should have cancelled the contracts. No assessment had been made about how far the work had been completed.”
He asked for a committee to be constituted that would look into the status of the work being executed and which would comprise councillors and officials.
Councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma said officials function according to their whims and fancies. “There need to be some checks and the system needs to improve,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Engineer S S Bida said that the ongoing works cannot be cancelled; but those projects where work had not been started, were cancelled.
