[Urbanstudy] VMC officers to be prosecuted for not following JNNURM norms

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/vmc-officers-to-be-prosecuted-for-not-following-jnnurm-norms/article7700945.ece


VMC officers to be prosecuted for not following JNNURM norms


   - M. Rajeev <http://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/m.-rajeev/>

The State government has decided to prosecute officers of the Vijayawada
Municipal Corporation (VMC) who were found guilty of violating norms
governing the award of contracts under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in the pre-bifurcation era.

The decision was taken after a technical panel constituted by the
government to probe the award of 127 JNNURM contracts involving an outlay
of 821.95 crore – 65 packages involving Rs. 382.67 crore under Urban
Infrastructure Governance and 62 packages involving Rs. 439.27 crore under
Basic Services for Urban Poor.

These projects included construction of houses (G+3), providing BT Roads,
model community halls, roads, relation wall, outfall drain, footpaths,
six-lane Ryves canal, 2/4-lane bridge across the Eluru canal, sewer line
collection networks and drainage.

An independent review of the works commissioned by the then Andhra Pradesh
Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APUFIDC) revealed
that tenders for works costing between Rs. 2 crore and Rs. 10 crore were
approved by the VMC executive authority instead of placing them before the
commissioner of tenders. Further, the EPC system was not followed for works
costing more than Rs 10 crore in accordance with the rules in vogue. The
sanctioned project was instead split into 127 petty packages.

Subsequently, a technical panel, comprising engineers-in-chief of the PHD,
GHMC and APUFIDC and HMWSSB director (technical), was constituted to
ascertain the deviations committed by the implementing agencies. Its report
said VMC followed all procedures except the one on referring the tenders to
the commissioner of tenders. The Government did not constitute a tender
committee to evaluate bids for works costing more than Rs. 50 lakh, and VMC
took its own decision. “The VMC did not obtain government approval of
tenders,” the report said.

In respect of works costing more than Rs. 10 crore, the panel recommended
ratification of the procurement of all packages as some works were
completed/in progress or on the verge of completion. “The government may
take a view as prior approval was not obtained,” the committee said.

After the bifurcation of the State, the VMC mayor addressed a letter to the
Government claiming that due to non-receipt of ratification of orders,
funds were not released to VMC due to which balance works were not
completed. The Government, after examining the issue, decided to ratify the
procurement process as also prosecute the officers involved in this issue
for violation of procedure and rules of procurement and tender process.
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