Allegations of corruption worth crores of rupees in underground drainage work of Junagadh Municipal Corporation: Despite strong evidence of agency submitting false bills, the corporation turned a blind ear, handed over the probe to the one against whom the probe was handed over!

Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) has been accused of corruption worth crores of rupees in the ongoing underground drainage project in the area. The Laliawadi ongoing project worth crores of rupees has been exposed after the BJP leader sought details through RTI. The BJP leader alleged that some of the bills of the firm that have been submitted by the agency working on the underground drainage work are false. The firm whose bills have been submitted have denied having their own bills. It is surprising that no action has been taken in this regard despite a written representation by the police and the petitioner to the corporation with evidence. Several wrong bills of underground drainage work were introduced: Naresh Dave Nareshbhai Dave, an activist of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an informed citizen, had sought details from the Junagadh Municipal Corporation (JMC) under the Right to Information (RTI) in the matter. An examination of around 12,000 papers submitted by the Municipal Corporation has revealed that bills from distant firms like Morbi, Tankara, Mehsana and Vijapur have been submitted for underground drainage work. It has been alleged by the vigilant citizen that most of these bills are fake and do not even mention the GST number. When the owners of these firms were contacted by the police they categorically stated that these bills were not theirs and they had never supplied any goods to the Junagadh Municipal Corporation. This proves that an entire network of bogus bills has been created to siphon government money. No police complaint even after written submission from Junagadh police The role of water works branch officer Alpesh Chavda in these allegations of corruption has also been questioned. The vigilant citizen claims that such a big scam is not possible without the connivance of the authorities. Surprisingly, no FIR has been lodged so far despite the fact that the entire matter has reached the police station and the police of other districts have informed the Junagadh B-Division police in writing. The police department is making excuses that this is an internal matter of the corporation and further action can be taken only after the instructions of the commissioner. On the other hand, Junagadh Municipal Commissioner Tejas Parmar is repeating that he is unaware of this. The commissioner said he has not received any written complaint so far, but the reality is that the petitioner has made representations several times through e-mail and other means. Only the agency against which the allegations were made was handed over the investigation! Another big question arises on the functioning of the system is that the probe into the matter has been entrusted by the commissioner to a 'Savjani Company'. The company itself is working as a project management consultancy (PMC) whose responsibility was to supervise the work. The vigilant citizen has alleged that handing over the investigation to the company under whose nose the corruption took place is tantamount to making the culprit a judge. There have also been serious allegations of lack of hydraulic design in the drainage. If the design had been done properly, sewage water in areas like Mangnath Road and Kadiawad would not have flowed onto the road. It is feared that the citizens of Junagadh will have to suffer in the coming monsoon. Corruption of Rs 150 crore in Rs 450 crore work in Phase-2 Bills of materials such as sand, gravel and iron are also estimated to have been irregularities as these bills have not been provided despite repeated demands. It has also been alleged that the government exchequer has been damaged by stealing royalties for excavation of soil. According to an estimate, corruption of about Rs 150 crore has been raised on the basis of the measurement book i.e. MB in the work of Phase-II of Rs 450 crore. When more information is sought in this regard, an attempt is being made by the authorities to hide the information by giving circular replies that 'records are not available'. When a ruling party worker has taken a stand against the corrupt officials of his own government, it remains to be seen whether the Commissioner of Junagadh will take strict action against the officials and contractors involved in the scam or the matter will also be suppressed. The firm whose bills were filed denied having their own bills! Applicant Nareshbhai Govindbhai Dave, a resident of Junagadh, had obtained details of underground drainage works bills from the Junagadh Municipal Corporation under the Right to Information Act. During the examination of these bills, they found that there was large-scale irregularities and corruption in the delivery challans introduced in the name of firms in the Tankara area such as Bajrang Cement Products, Gayatri Cement Pipe Products and Bhavesh Cement Products. He demanded a police probe to verify these suspicious bills following which an inquiry was conducted at Tankara police station.During the investigation, Head Constable of Tankara police station, J.M. Jadeja recorded the statement of petitioner Nareshbhai in which he alleged that there was corruption in the bills issued by the corporation. The police then took statements of the three factory owners involved in the case. Siddharthbhai Devkaranbhai Merja and Joydeepbhai Devkaranbhai Merja and Lalitbhai Amarshibhai Bhalodia of Hadmatia village have clearly stated in their statements that the bills or challans submitted by the petitioner do not belong to their factory. He produced copies of his original delivery challans at that time and proved that the documents submitted to the corporation were forged.The Tankara police launched a multi-pronged operation after the details of this serious scam came to light. The police wrote to the Assistant State Commissioner of Tax (GST) Morbi requesting him to examine these bills and check whether they had paid GST tax. At the same time, since the entire scam was related to the Junagadh Municipal Corporation and the allegations were related to forging documents, the Tankara police forwarded the report with all the statements and evidence to the Junagadh 'B' Division police station for diminishing action. A preliminary investigation conducted by the Tankara police found all the delivery challans to be bogus.Junagadh B Division police station sub-inspector S.K. Mehta said in a report sent to the municipal commissioner that shocking details have come out in the investigation of the petitions filed by Nareshbhai Govindbhai Dave, an informed citizen of the city. The work of Phase-2 of the underground drainage project, which has been going on since 2023, is being carried out by P.C. The contract was awarded to a company named Snehal Construction Private Limited. There have been serious allegations that the delivery challans submitted to the corporation during the course of work by this company are fake. "I haven't received a written complaint yet," he told the commissioner. Junagadh Municipal Corporation commissioner Tejas Parmar said he has not received any written complaint so far regarding the allegations being levelled. He, however, assured that he would immediately investigate the allegations as soon as he received details or complaints about the allegations. He made it clear that it is important to know where and in what matters the allegations are so that a deeper investigation can be done.Talking about transparency in work, he said that there is a PMC in every such work. Every work is thoroughly scrutinized by the PMC and only then are the bills introduced. He said that whatever allegations have been made at present will be investigated and further legal action will be taken if any irregularities are found.