‘Textbook case of mishandling public money’: Delhi govt set to probe irregularities in Chandni Chowk redevelopment project

“The Chandni Chowk redevelopment project stands as a textbook case of how public money can be mishandled when rules are bent and procedures bypassed. In 2019, under the then Minister-in-Charge (Manish Sisodia), costs spiralled, tenders were ignored, and crores of rupees were diverted — all without mandatory approvals. Delhi deserves better,” said Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh.

“Under my watch, PWD will not be a playground for irregularities but a fortress of transparency and accountability, where every paisa serves the people, not personal interests,” Singh added.

The 1.3-km long redeveloped stretch in Chandni Chowk was inaugurated by former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2021.

According to the internal findings by the BJP government, sources said, several steps were allegedly bypassed while transferring funds for the project. AAP leader and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia held the portfolio at the time.

It has also been alleged that the previous government violated the standard protocol for administrative approval and expenditure sanctions.

“As per established norms, a revised sanction must be obtained when project costs exceed approved limits. But PWD continued spending beyond the sanctioned Rs 99.68 crore without obtaining the mandatory revised approval,” reads the document.

To avoid Cabinet scrutiny, officials said, only an additional preliminary estimate of Rs 40 crore was submitted instead of revised preliminary estimate of Rs 145 crore. “This move appears to have been a deliberate attempt to avoid presenting the full proposal before the Cabinet, which is mandatory for projects exceeding Rs 100 crore… It has also been found that the project was executed through the same contractor without inviting fresh tenders… payments were made in violation of financial transparency and procurement norms,” an official said.

As per the documents, an amount of over Rs 70 crore was allegedly spent on extra items and deviations. Of the total Rs 145.72 crore spent, more than Rs 70 crore was for extra items and deviations.

Further, PWD ignored the mandatory requirement of Cabinet approval even as the project cost exceeded Rs 100 crore. The documents also claim that funds were illegally diverted without the Finance department’s nod.

“A total of Rs 30 crore was diverted from the PWD Maintenance Head to Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC) without obtaining mandatory concurrence from the Finance Department… The Engineer-in-Chief directly submitted the file to the Minister-in-Charge, bypassing both the Secretary in charge of the department and the concurrence of the Finance Department — a serious breach of rules and regulations,” said the official.

Due to these lapses in estimation and execution, the project allegedly suffered severe deficiencies in cost estimation, planning, and financial control. Overall execution lacked due diligence, resulting in large-scale irregularities and fiscal indiscipline, as per the officials.

Hitting out at the BJP, the AAP in a statement said, “Rekha Gupta’s BJP government knows that it won this Assembly election through cheating and voter list manipulation. They are not popular among the people. They are scared that the people of Delhi now want the AAP government back. They know that the people of Delhi love Arvind Kejriwal and AAP. Therefore, out of desperation, the BJP wants to file hundreds of false cases against AAP leaders.”

It added: “The people of Delhi know very well that for the last 10 years, vigilance and the Anti-Corruption Branch were under the L-G, and it was the L-G’s duty to ensure that corrupt officers were punished. It was the LG who was appointing officers to various positions. Opening enquiries into old cases only shows the incompetence of their L-G.”