MP: E-TINKERING ISSUES
CM Chouhan is in a corner as a massive scam is exposed in a much touted e-tendering process
Just months ahead of the state assembly polls, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan administration’s much-tomtommed transparency initiatives, the e-tendering of government contracts, is under a cloud. Preliminary inquiries have revealed tampering in the allocation of at least three projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore. And even as the state police’s economic offences wing (EOW) started investigations, the opposition Congress has promised to have the ‘scam’ probed by a judge of the Supreme Court.
It all started in April after a private construction company complained of discrepancies in the e-tendering of a waterworks project under the public health engineering department (PHED). An inquiry by a senior state government official led to the cancellation of three tenders with outlays of Rs 656 crore, Rs 282 crore and Rs 138 crore, respectively. It was also revealed that a red-flagging system, built into the e-tendering software to detect any tinkering, found similar fudging in earlier contracts. Sources say officials have found evidence of hacking from an IP address in Mumbai.
Since it was introduced 10 years ago as a measure to usher in transparency in government spending, e-tendering has been used to allocate works worth an estimated Rs 2 lakh crore. These pertain to several departments, including PWD, PHED, the water resources department and the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation.
State chief secretary B.P. Singh has directed the EOW to investigate, but the whole affair could open a hugely embarrassing can of worms for the Chouhan government ahead of the polls, expected to be held in October.
Quick to grab the opportunity, Congress leaders alleged the involvement of a coterie of top officials close to the chief minister. “I will very soon name the panch
pyare (five favoured ones) of the CM,” said Ajay Singh, leader of the opposition in the state assembly. He also released a mobile phone number, the call detail records of which, he claimed, would unravel the scam.
Then, giving fresh ammunition to the opposition, on June 15, the state government, without explanation, transferred the officer who unearthed the fudging in the e-tendering process.
State BJP spokesman Rahul Kothari still insists there has been no scam. “The moment there was a doubt of any wrongdoing, the government ordered an inquiry by the EOW. No work order has been given and no payments have been given, so where is the scam?” he asks.
State government officials are flummoxed at how the supposedly fail-safe system was compromised. An officer of the cyber crime cell says the entire tendering process leaves an audit trail at each step which will be used to ascertain at which point the alleged tampering took place.
INQUIRIES SHOW TAMPERING IN THE ALLOCATION OF PROJECTS WORTH OVER Rs 1,000 CRORE