VB sleuths book six engineers, contractor for Harike sand scam

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab vigilance bureau on Saturday registered a case against six engineers of the irrigation department and a contractor for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 5.47 crore to the state exchequer in sale of sand extracted during desilting work at the Harike headworks barrage in May.

VB chief director BK Uppal said the bureau received information about the irregularities; and probe teams found that the, in the project of Rs 12.04 crore, the engineers paid Rs 5.47 crore to the contractor for completing only 45% of the tendered work. They didn’t take any action against him for not completing the work in the stipulated time, he added.

Those booked include chief engineer (canals) Jatinderpal Singh, executive engineers Vijaypal Singh Mann and Gulshan Nagpal, sub-divisional officer (SDO) Mukesh Goyal, junior engineers Rishab and Vikramjeet Singh Pannu, and contractor Ashok Kumar, under the Indian penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, at the VB police station in Ferozepur.

It is alleged that chief engineer Jatinderpal had allowed to open the tender at higher rates without prior administrative approval, and allotted the tenders to contractor Ashok Kumar by increasing its total cost to Rs 12.04 crore.