Whistleblower said don’t name me. Govt did. He was shot dead

Dubey, a 1994 civil engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, was Deputy General Manager in the Centre’s National Highway Authority of India working on the 60-km Aurangabad-Barachatti segment of the Golden Quadrilateral in Bihar with headquarters in Koderma, Jharkhand.

On November 11, 2002, the Prime Minister’s Office received his letter addressed to the Prime Minister himself. In the letter, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express, Dubey called the PM’s highway showpiece ‘‘a dream project of unparalleled importance to the nation.’’

And then highlighted several instances of what he called ‘‘loot of public money’’ and ‘‘poor implementation.’’

Dubey requested his name be kept secret but at the same time, he let his identity known. He had reason to.

‘‘Since such letters from a common man,’’ Dubey wrote, ‘‘are not usually treated with due seriousness, I wish to clarify… that this letter is being written after careful thought by a very concerned citizen who is also very closely linked with the project. I request you to kindly go through my brief particulars (attached to a separate sheet to ensure secrecy) before proceeding further.’’

Just the opposite happened.

Dubey’s letter is riddled with signatures and scribbles of officials indicating it was a classic case of a file going into babudom’s endless orbit.

• In 10 days, the PMO fowarded Dubey’s complaint to his parent Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. (MoRTH). Dubey’s request for anonymity was apparently ignored by the PMO.

•Along with the attachment, his letter was sent to the MoRTH. Eight Ministry officials went through the letter.

• And on December 4, 2002, Dubey’s letter was sent to the National Highway Authority of India with a copy to NHAI’s Chief Vigilance Officer. And a covering letter from an official: ‘‘I am directed to forward herewith an unsigned letter on the above subject (National Highways Development Project complaint regarding loot of public money) for such action as deemed fit.’’

• On November 27, Dubey was shot dead in Gaya when he was returning from Varanasi. According to the FIR filed at the Rampur police station in Gaya by Dubey’s brother, the people whose corruption he exposed were behind the murder. The FIR does not name anyone. No arrests have been made so far.

Gaya Superintendent of Police Sanjay Singh, a friend of Dubey’s from his IIT Kanpur days, said he will ‘‘leave no stone unturned to track down the killers.’’

Dubey’s key complaints, according to the letter he wrote:

• Detail Project Reports (DPR) by design consultants are in ‘‘very poor shape and cannot be implemented in the field without major modifications…The result is that the DPRs on the basis of which tenders have been called are like garbage.’’

• Process of procurement ‘‘completely manipulated and hijacked’’ by the big contractors. Many contractors are ‘‘submitting forged documents to justify their technical and financial capabilities.’’

• The ‘‘big contractors have been able to get all sorts of help from the officials in NHAI and even the note sheets carrying approval of Chairman have been leaked outside.’’

• NHAI officials have shown great hurry in giving ‘‘mobilisation advance to selected contractors… No surprise as the commission to officials for award of work are linked to the contractors getting their first mobilisation advance.’’

• The entire mobilisation advance of 10% of contract value (which goes up to Rs 40 crore in certain cases) has been paid to the contractors ‘‘within a few weeks of award of work’’ without follow-up to ensure they are ‘‘actually mobilised at site with the same pace.’’

• ‘‘Diversion or idling of funds… in case of equipment advances to the contractors, another 10 per cent of the contract value.’’

• NHAI is going for international competitive bidding to procure the most competent civil contractor for execution of its projects. When it comes to the actual execution, it is found that most of the works (sometimes even upto 100 per cent) are being sublet or sub-contracted to small petty contractors who are not at all capable to execute such projects and ensure the quality of construction.’’