Rajat Pandit | TNN
New Delhi: Corruption has seeped so much into the defence establishment that even projects connected with national security are failing to emerge unscathed. An inquiry ordered by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) into Project Deepak of Border Roads Organization (BRO) has opened a can of worms, with shocking tales of manipulation of tenders, cartelisation, lack of quality control and use of substandard material to maintain and construct crucial roads.
The audit conducted by the chief technical examiner (CTE) of the Border Roads Development Board (BRDB), in fact, found the quality of roads and bridges in some stretches is so pathetic that “specialized Army vehicles will find it extremely tough to use them in times of emergency.”
The report is especially alarming since China has gone in for a massive upgrade of its border infrastructure over the last decade, with an extensive rail network and over 58,000-km of roads in the Tibet Autonomous Region. India, in contrast, is floundering to make the 73 all-weather roads earmarked for construction along the 4,056-km Line of Actual Control (LoAC) with China, with not even 20 of them being completed so far.
The CTE inspection report, which has indicted several top BRO officers, was recently submitted to the defence ministry as well as the CVC, said sources. On being contacted, minister of state for defence M M Pallam Raju, who is also the BRDB chairperson, however, said, “I have been travelling for the past 10 days. I don’t specifically remember seeing anything like that. But if an inquiry is held, we will definitely follow procedures and take action.’’
BRO also downplayed the report, holding that such checks were “a routine matter” and “corrective action” was taken if needed. But with Project Deepak being just one of the several such whose primary task is to construct strategic roads and other infrastructure along the fronts with China and Pakistan, there are fears that similar stories are being repeated elsewhere. The inspection report itself says that “proper investigation” by an “outside agency” is required to “reveal all the facts”.
The technical audit inspected 31 works and purchase contracts under Project Deepak, including the Manali-Sarchu, Hindustan-Tibet and Dhami-Kiongal roads in Himachal Pradesh, undertaken from Sept 2005 to Oct 2010.
But it was forced to drop the work associated with the proposed 8.8 km Rohtang Tunnel due to “reluctance” of the directorate general of border roads to “provide tender documents and correspondence of the contract”.
As for the work examined, the report says, “Serious types of financial irregularities and manipulations regarding award and administration of contracts, besides poor quality of works execution and documentation, have been observed by the chief engineer (quality control) both in contractual and departmental execution.”
Though the report gives an estimate of “more than Rs 100 crore” of financial irregularities in “selected contracts”, it warns that the “actual figures may be manifold higher”. “Financial management is lacking in BRO,” it says, adding that officials responsible for irregularities get away scot free since there is “no accountability”.
While BRO’s in-house capability and resources are being “misused” or under-utilized, “more and more contracts are being outsourced to private constructors”. The report dwells upon how only a few contractors are being favoured with contracts after contracts, without any market rate analysis, transparency and “healthy competition in violation of CVC and other guidelines”. Moreover, tender rates are being pegged way above the actual costs by “showing false scarcity of road construction material” at or near the work sites, among other things.
Even more worrying is the finding that “practically no quality control” has been exercised during execution of contracts to repair or construct roads. “Neither the material conforms to the stipulated specifications and gradation, nor are the thickness and quality ensured...it’s a matter of grave concern that locally-available quarry spoil/river bed material has been used without proper compaction and wet rolling,’’ says the report. Even roads constructed or repaired by BRO are plagued by similar problems, with total disregard of “geometric standards” and strategic needs. Bridges, too, are being constructed without proper planning and care, the report says.
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