The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which has taken steps to confiscate Rs 183 crore from real estate firm Emaar MGF for deficiencies and delays in building the Commonwealth Games Village, seems to have landed in trouble, with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) finding irregularities in several purchases made by the Authority for the Village.
In its reply to a Right To Information query, the CVC said it has found discrepancies in DDA’s purchases of ACs, furniture and kitchen equipment.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has directed all agencies concerned involved in Commonwealth Games (CWG) to prepare detailed reports of their spending and offer full cooperation to investigating agencies. At a meeting with top officials, chief secretary Rakesh Mehta directed them to keep their documents ready and ?fully cooperate? with investigators.
About 1,168 apartments with 4,008 bedrooms were built by DDA through Emaar-MGF. The urban development ministry has directed DDA for confiscation of the Rs 183 crore bank guarantee furnished by Emaar-MGF and recommended legal action against it.
Discrepancies like payment to non-existent parties, willful delay in execution of contracts, inflated prices and bungling in purchase of equipment through tendering have also been noticed.
?The total misappropriation amount may touch Rs 5,000-8,000 crore, which is quite huge and alarming. The commission is still awaiting reports from various departments and cannot give the exact amount involved in the bungling,? a CVC officialsaid.
Out of the 22 projects, six were carried out by the sports ministry, four by Delhi Development Authority, three by Organising Committee and two each by Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Central Public Works Department.
One work each relating to department of commerce, Indian Meteorological Department and New Delhi Municipal Council is also being probed, the RTI reply said.
The I-T department and ED also have launched separate probes to detect alleged financial discrepancies in the award of contracts and violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act.
CAG?s Vinod Rai has said that it will submit report after auditing all Commonwealth Games related projects being carried out by different civic and construction agencies.
However, urban development minister Jaipal Reddy defended the DDA, saying Rs 760 crore it paid to Emaar MGF was not a bailout, but a buyback arrangement.
It said the money was given to the private builder to ensure timely completion of the Village. He said the contract could have been given to some other contractor but that would have meant huge delays.