Hyderabad: A major scam has surfaced in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. The municipal authority has transferred about Rs 22 lakh directly into the accounts of an unregistered NGO without following the due procedure of inviting tenders.
The HMDA apparently transferred the money because the NGO could not generate funds for its projects under CSR.
Moreover, civic officials have no knowledge about the status of the work assigned to the NGO since the municipal commissioner who had approved sanction for the projects was transferred to another department and the executive engineer retired recently.
According to highly-placed sources in the HMDA, the municipal authority transferred the following amounts to an NGO called Dhruvansh: Rs 88,495 (cheque number 674640) on October 18, 2016, Rs 1,07,874 on November 19, 2016, (cheque number 897512), Rs 60,960 on February 14, 2017, for plantation works at Ibrahim Cheruvu (cheque number 161820); Rs 2,92,350 on October 12, 2017, for protection and conservation of lakes (bill no 1980), Rs 1,80,000 on November 16, 2017, (bill no 2185), Rs 2,29,117 on October 21, 2017, for raising Mtce of Bund and foreshore plantation (bill no 82), Rs 1,54,810 on May 31, 2015, for protection and conservation of lakes (bill no 383), Rs 10,000 towards advertisement charges on February 10, 2017, (cheque no 216051) and Rs 2,62,000 on December 28, 2017, for wetland conservation and restoration programme and storm water drains (cheque no 585073).
The cheques were given to Dhruvansh Organisation registered at Sri Sai Apartments, Anjali Gardens, Diamond Hills, Manikonda, Hyderabad-500089 with PAN (Permanent Account Number) AACTD1528Q. Apart from this, the municipal authority paid Rs 3,00,000 on August 25, 2018, to the same organisation for plantation activities.
However, on the Union government’s official website NGO Darpan Dhruvansh registered with ID 70414 shows a different address: 18 Green Space Hillpark, Road No. 29 Alkapur Township, Narsingi, Hyderabad.
When this newspaper queried these payments, a senior official of HMRDA said, on condition of anonymity, that lacunae in the procedure allowed these amounts to be transferred to the NGO.
He said that the funds were paid to the NGO after being approved by a former HMDA commissioner. He also said that the executive engineer (lakes and parks division) who sanctioned the funds retired recently. He said that the irregularities in the fund transfer to Dhruvansh will be brought to the notice of higher authorities.
