Khattar orders probe into IFFCO Chk pipeline scam

Gurgaon: Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has ordered a high-level inquiry into the alleged IFFCO Chowk sewer pipeline shifting scam. This was after Gurgaon MLA Sudhir Singla raised the issue in the state assembly on Tuesday. TOI was the first to report about the scam in February.
And to ensure a free and fair probe, HSVP on Wednesday suspended the sub-divisional officer who, during his stint in the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), had purportedly certified the completion of the sewer pipeline shifting work at IFFCO Chowk before the construction of a flyover at the junction.
It may be mentioned here that the 200-metre-long pipeline was never relocated, but the contractor was paid Rs 7 crore in 2019 when the flyover was completed — two years after work on the project to decongest the junction began. Both the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the GMDA had blamed each other for the loss.
“The announcement of a high-level probe into the scam is a welcome step as I had raised the issue in the state assembly,” the Gurgaon MLA said. “The GMDA, in its reply, claimed that the project work was carried out by the NHAI and the latter had only made the payment. Action has now been taken against the officer in question.”
In fact, soon after we broke the story, the Haryana Police’s criminal investigation department had asked the GMDA “to share the details of the case at the earliest”. Subsequently, the GMDA sent back the SDO in question — Vijender Malik — to his parent department. “He has now been placed under suspension,” said an official.
In 2017, the NHAI executed a Rs 2,000-crore project to construct underpasses and flyovers at IFFCO Chowk, Signature Towers crossing and Rajiv Chowk to decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. The execution of the project also necessitated the shifting of utilities — sewerage, water pipelines and stormwater drains.
The GMDA was supposed to certify the completion of work related to the utilities. At IFFCO Chowk, the sewer pipeline in question was supposed to be shifted from the main carriageway to the green belt along the road. The contractor was paid by the NHAI after the SDO had purportedly put his signature on the bill.
The alleged scam came to light when the GMDA started probing the collapse of the retaining wall of the flyover last year after heavy rains. Senior GMDA officials found that the sewer pipeline running below the flyover was never shifted though Rs 7 crore was paid to the project contractor for the same.
NHAI officials, last month, told TOI that “now that the flyover project has been completed, there is no scope for the shifting of utilities”. “Now, we are strengthening the stretch (sewer pipeline) and connecting it with a new line,” NHAI project director Nirman Jambulkar had said.
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