Will inquire into CAG objections on Shivaji memorial tendering procedure: Maharashtra govt

Public Works Department Minister Ashok Chavan said a policy decision will be taken on the project after the inquiry.

Maharashtra government, CAG objection Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial, Shivaji Maharaj Memorial project, Shivaji Memorial project Arabian Sea, Ashok Chavan, indian express

Public Works Department Minister Ashok Chavan said a policy decision will be taken on the project after the inquiry. (File photo)

THE STATE government Wednesday said an inquiry will be conducted into the objections raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) about the tendering procedure of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial project in the Arabian Sea. State minister for public works department, Ashok Chavan, said a policy decision will be taken on the project after the inquiry.

“The CAG has raised serious objections on the tendering procedure of the memorial. We will conduct an inquiry into it and then will take a policy decision on it,” Chavan said.

He was replying to a starred question, raised by NCP legislator Hemant Takle, in the Legislative Council in the matter.

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Several petitions, Chavan said, are pending in the courts on the environmental issues against the project. While the work on the project has been stopped since last year, there has been no major progress in the memorial’s actual work in the last five years, he added.

The CAG had carried out an audit of the Shivaji Memorial Project between April and May last year. The report, accessed by The Indian Express under Right to Information (RTI), was sent to the state PWD in October that year.

In December, The Indian Express extensively reported on the CAG report’s findings highlighting how the Devendra Fadnavis-led government’s decision to reduce the cost of the proposed Shivaji Memorial by negotiating with the lowest bidder and changing scope of work has “vitiated the tendering procedure and defeated the objective of transparency in tendering process”.

The CAG report also said that the de-scoping of the work for the Shivaji Memorial Project resulted in “undue benefit of Rs 9.61 crore” to the PMC and caused an “additional financial burden of Rs 20.57 crore” on the exchequer.

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