Nearly two years after the murder of its engineer Satyendra Dubey, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has informed the CBI that it has taken a series of steps to correct the procedures for contract implementation. In effect, proving Dubey’s charges right. The NHAI’s key admissions include:
• Of the cases of variations listed by Dubey in three Golden Quadrilateral packages, NHAI issued show-cause notice to one consultant and warnings to three more for ‘‘noticed flaws’’
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• NHAI took punitive action under criminal law and law of contract, apart from making recoveries and blacklisting firms, wherever allegation of forgery was established
• Of three GQ contractors against whom Dubey made specific allegations, NHAI cancelled contract of one (China Coal Construction) for ‘‘tardy progress’’ and listed progress of the other two as 42% (Centrodorstroy) and 61% (Progressive Construction).
• NHAI now insists on end-use certificates for consultants getting excise duty and customs duty exemptions. ‘‘These certificates are issued judiciously’.’
• NHAI has taken ‘‘stern action’’ against GQ consultants in instances of fake curriculum vitae. Key personnel who left projects midway have been banned
Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption.
Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More
