Haryana government orders audit of Gurugram, Faridabad civic bodies

GURUGRAM: The state government on Tuesday ordered a special audit of the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad over allegations of financial irregularities.

Officials said that urban local bodies minister Anil Vij sanctioned the audit after complaints received by his department indicated the civic bodies had released payments to some contractors without completion of projects, and in few cases even before the start of work.

In the government order, additional chief secretary of the urban local bodies department SN Roy has also asked the commissioners of the two civic bodies to share what action they have taken against the erring officials on some specific complaints, including those by Sandeep Bhardwaj, the councillor of Ward 15 of Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF), and RTI activist Aseem Takyar of Gurugram.

Takyar has alleged that a payment of Rs 35 lakh was released by MCG against beautification of the green belt of Gurugram-Faridabad Road from Bristol Chowk to Khushbu Chowk, while it later turned out that the work was “worth only Rs 11 lakh”. His second allegation pertains to the release of full payment of Rs 1.67 crore to a contractor, now blacklisted, before the start of construction of a road from Bajghera to Palam Vihar.

The third complaint against the Gurugram civic body was that of non-action against an officer who had allegedly flouted the norms of street vending policy, despite an inquiry recommended by MCG House. MCG councillors had alleged the officer was involved in irregularities in issuance of BPL cards.

Similarly, Faridabad councillor Bhardwaj has alleged the corporation had identified only 2.60 lakh units for property tax assessment, “whereas there are more than 5 lakh units under its jurisdiction”. He has also alleged irregularities in releasing payments of contractors against incomplete or sub-standard developmental work. MCF also “made no efforts” to recover advertisement tax, thus causing losses to the exchequer, he claimed.

MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said the inquiries have been marked to the agencies concerned and the report will be shared with the senior officials as per the order. “We have conducted probe at departmental level,” he said.

MCF commissioner Yash Garg said the complaints are related to work before he joined in January. “The special audit is welcome, if there is any leakage in the system, it should be plugged,” he said.