Mumbai PWD ‘diverted’ Rs 26 crore to pvt contractors for ministers’ house repairs

As part of these payments, records show, Rs 6.2 crore was released under “utility bills” over these six years for “Varsha”, the Chief Minister’s bungalow, of which Rs 2.37 crore went to contractors who carried out maintenance and repair work at the site. And, Rs 2.76 crore was sanctioned to pay the utility bills of “Sagar”, the Deputy Chief Minister’s bungalow, of which Rs 1.47 crore was paid to contractors for similar work (see chart).

Sources told The Indian Express that a preliminary inquiry into these payments “established some facts” that led to a more comprehensive probe into why bills were cleared for contractors under the description of utility bills, namely water and electricity charges, in violation of government regulations issued in 2018. “A detailed inquiry is now being carried out by scrutinising all the bills. A final report will be submitted soon,” sources said.

PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan could not be reached for comment. When contacted, Manisha Mhaiskar, the state’s PWD Secretary told The Indian Express: “An inquiry has been ordered through our Vigilance and Quality Control Department. Further action would be taken according to the final report.”

Utility bills are usually paid directly by the PWD to service providers such as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for water and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) for electricity. For maintenance and repair by private contractors, official guidelines issued in 2018 stipulate a multi-layered payment process: submission of “job work” proposal for approval; issuance of “e-job number”; tender for the “job work”; and award of contract.

“When these transactions were done, there was a shortage of funds and contractors’ bills were in excess. So, the approved funds for electricity and water were diverted… The funds, which had come with approval from the PWD officer for paying utility bills, were diverted and used for clearing the outstanding payments of contractors,” a senior PWD official told The Indian Express.

However, a state government official confirmed that this process violated the 2018 regulations. “Payment for private contractors is done only after mentioning the job work number and taking e-job approval from the circle officer of PWD for clearing the payment. No payment, except for utility services such as electricity, water, gas and telephone which are considered unavoidable and mandatory, can be cleared through the online Budget Distribution System (BDS) without the e-job work number,” said the official.
According

to records, over 110 contractors received a total of Rs 26.5 crore from the PWD in the form of utility bills over these six years. Among those who benefitted the most, according to records, are: Rs 1.9 crore from six “utility bills” for seven bungalows to Bharati Enterprises, a local civic works firm; Rs 1.79 crore from seven “utility” bills for four bungalows to Dipak Mande, a contractor; Rs 1.26 crore from four “utility” bills for four bungalows to Seth Construction; Rs 92 lakh from five “utility” bills to Morna Construction.

The other companies that got the money include: Shivgiri Construction (Rs 83 lakh), Vishram Construction (Rs 74 lakh), Ajit Construction (Rs 70 lakh), Tanishq Interior (Rs 65 lakh), Soham Enterprises (Rs 65 lakh), Omkar Construction (Rs 60 lakh), Eagle Fire Services (Rs 54 lakh) and Rohini Paintings (Rs 48 lakh).

Such payments were also recorded at the residences of top officials. For instance, records show, the PWD spent Rs 1.78 crore on electricity and water for the bungalow allotted to the Chief Secretary — of this, Rs 1.43 crore was paid to private contractors for maintenance and repair work.

When contacted, representatives of Bharati Enterprises declined to comment. Mande also declined to comment. The other contractors and companies could not be reached for comment. One of the private contractors, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while he did maintenance and repair work at the bungalows, he was not aware of the payment process adopted by the PWD.

“We completed the work and submitted bills for payment. If PWD officials failed to follow procedure and indulged in irregularities, it is their fault and not that of the contractors. The PWD should conduct an audit and find out what happened,” the contractor said.

The Mumbai Presidency division is responsible for the maintenance of government and administrative buildings in the state capital, including official residences of ministers. Records show that this division spent Rs 210 crore over these six years on maintenance, repair and utilities for these 36 bungalows.