‘Delay caused loss of hundreds of crores’: L-G orders probe into Barapullah Phase-III flyover project
In December 2014, an amount of Rs 1,260.63 crore was allocated for the project. The construction was awarded to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in April 2015.
Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered a probe by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) into the "delay, cost escalation, and arbitration payments" in the construction of Barapullah Phase-III flyover, Raj Niwas said on Tuesday. (Express File)
Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered a probe by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) into the “delay, cost escalation, and arbitration payments” in the construction of Barapullah Phase-III flyover, Raj Niwas said on Tuesday. The probe is set to examine the role of officials in the Public Works Department (PWD), Revenue Department, and Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) and previous ministers.
In his note approving the probe, Saxena termed the delay “inexplicable in itself” and said it had caused losses of “hundreds of crores” to the government exchequer. He described the case as one showing “complete absence of administrative oversight, managerial failure and criminal neglect” in the execution of a high-value infrastructure project.
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The move comes following a recommendation by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, said officials.
The matter was first discussed in a meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), chaired by the CM on July 28. The EFC recommended a “thorough enquiry with regard to the approval and acceptance of arbitration awards by authorities non-competent to accept; delay in the execution of project and fixing responsibility of erring officers alongwith directions to Public Works Department (PWD) to provide complete records of the matter to ACB.”
The project — a 3.5-km four-lane elevated corridor — was originally approved in 2011. The new elevated corridor is meant to merge with the existing Barapullah flyover at Sarai Kale Khan.
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In December 2014, an amount of Rs 1,260.63 crore was allocated for the project. The construction was awarded to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in April 2015. The project was supposed to be completed by October 2017. Even as a decade has passed, the project — plagued by land acquisition issues, delays in tree-cutting permissions, and alleged departmental mismanagement — is yet to be completed.
Of the original estimate, Rs 1,238.68 crore has been spent so far, said officials, adding that the new estimate is around Rs 1,330 crore. The project is now expected to be completed by June next year. Earlier this month, the PWD had said it received permission from the Central Empowered Committee to fell 250 trees that are required for the project to progress.
Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered a probe by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) into the "delay, cost escalation, and arbitration payments" in the construction of Barapullah Phase-III flyover, Raj Niwas said on Tuesday. (Express File) 
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