The total damages the state government is expected to suffer as a result of the bitumen supply scam of 2007-08 might run into crores of rupees.The state PWD is under the scanner of the State Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Bureau in the scam in which supply of thousands of litres of bitumen from the Panipat refineries was delayed, later resulting in shortage of stock.Besides the investigation into the extent of the involvement of officials and staff of the PWD in the scam and the role of Him Agro Industries Corporation that was the nodal agency for procuring supplies, the role of the transporter companies would also be assessed.The four transporter companies involved were awarded tender for transportation of bitumen from refineries of Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Limited at Panipat to several destinations in the state. Preliminary inquiries reveal that though the condition on the tender called for transporting all supplies within five days after which a fine of Rs 10 per day was to be imposed on the transporters, the nodal agency appointed by the PWD did not take any action for the delay, even as in many cases the delay is of over six months.The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has called in records of 25 PWD divisions for detailed scrutiny on the basis of which a preliminary report would be prepared and sent to the state government to decide the further course of action. During the previous months, the Vigilance had conducted raids at 22 PWD divisions to check the stock registers in the stores, in which gross violations were found, signalling largescale bungling in the supply of bitumen.Sources in the Vigilance say the later stages of the detailed investigation would involve questioning of many officials, right from junior engineers to the engineer-in-chief.
