MCD acts against officials, recommends cancellation of works affected by irregularities

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun

The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has initiated action against its officials found responsible for construction and development works in the wards. The MCD’s Engineering section had invited tenders for construction and development works in the municipal wards. However, on receiving complaints regarding the tenders from various mediums, an inquiry committee was formed.

The committee formed five teams for physical verification of the proposed works. Out of the total 261 works, 252 were found to be valid while nine works were recommended for cancellation. In its report submitted on January 12, the committee recommended that five of the works should be cancelled as they were not justified and lacked proper grounds for execution. Two works showed duplication during the tender process while two others had already been executed by different departments but were still included in the tender list.

These works included CC road, drain and embankment construction in areas including Aman Vihar, areas near Mahavir Jain Inter College, Chandrabani, Kaulagarh, Indira Colony and Tyagi Road, among others in nine wards. The committee recommended adverse entries for three local junior engineer and assistant engineers concerned along with a stern warning to not repeat such actions in the future. The salaries for the month of January of a junior engineer and an assistant engineer were also withheld along with a warning to remain alert while discharging official works in the future. For duplication and including works done by other departments in the list, the desk in-charge/clerk has been attached to the office of the municipal commissioner.

The municipal commissioner Namami Bansal said that all officials and employees of the MCD are expected to perform their duties with integrity and alertness, warning that strict departmental action would be taken if similar lapses occur in the future. She stated that any irregularity in the tender process will not be tolerated and that officials found negligent during inquiries will face departmental action. To ensure transparency, the corporation has decided to prepare a standard rulebook for development works, under which assistant and junior engineers will certify that the proposed works are justified and not being executed by any other department.

Bansal added that the new set of rules is being prepared to prevent such lapses and going forward, every development work will be linked to a unique ID, enabling tracking from approval to payment and ensuring greater transparency.