Allegations that contractors in conjunction with government officials have diverted crores of rupees meant for projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to other projects has forced the government to constitute a four-member high-level technical committee to look into the charges. It has been brought to the notice of the government that certain agencies have not followed the directions and orders issued in various government orders for the execution of JNNURM projects.
The four-member committee has been given the mandate to scrutinise the tenders of between Rs 2 crore and Rs 10 crore and find out if there have been irregularities committed by implementing agencies in the execution of projects sanctioned under the JNNURM in the municipal corporations of Greater Hyderabad, Greater Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada and the Hyderabad Water Board.
The committee members are engineer-in-chief of public health Dr P. Panduranga Rao, GHMC ENC R. Dhan Singh, AP Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APUFIDC) chief engineer Imtiaz Ahmed, and Water Board director (technical) Sundar Ram Reddy.
The committee was constituted on July 12 and asked to submit its report by July 27. But sources said the committee had not even met once so far, let alone begin scrutinising the tenders. Around Rs 12,525.66 crore worth of civic infrastructure works are being undertaken in the state with JNNURM funds by municipalities and municipal corporations. Of the Rs 12,525.66 crore, the Government of India has put in Rs 6,511.05 crore, AP Rs 1918.78 crore, and urban local bodies Rs 4,095.83 crore.