Bengaluru: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has dug up a Rs 39.38 crore scam in the minor irrigation department’s Kushtagi division.
Recommending a CID probe into the scam, the committee said in its report tabled in the Legislative Assembly by its chairman, R Ashok, that 17 officials of the department were involved in awarding work divided into 3938 pieces to one contractor, without calling for bids from October 2015 to January 2016.
The contractor had then claimed bills for work not done, it said. The PAC claimed that the Social Welfare department had violated the Transparency Act while awarding contracts worth over Rs 135.60 crore and contracts for many school buildings were given to one contractor, delaying the execution of the project.
It also found that owing to a shortage of teachers in residential schools , one teacher handled multiple responsibilities and there were no proper guidelines for the safety of their girl students. Deploring that funds were released for projects without proper verification, it said this had resulted in Rs 3.47 crore lying unused.
The committee wondered how 2,100 borewells, which were in good working condition, had to be simultaneously repaired once they were handed over to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Board.
It noted that although the tendering period ended by July 2009, the board created packages of 75 borewells each costing Rs 1.08 crore and continued to call for tenders for projects worth Rs 28.28 crore.
Moreover, the Assistant Engineers and Assistant Executive Engineers made purchases without any demands and spent Rs 6.06 crore based on duplicate purchase orders. In addition, the board had no documents for purchases worth over Rs 4.3 crore, the PAC added.
