Crime Branch on Friday conducted raids at several places in the valley in connection with scams in Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corp (JKPCC).
Official sources said the Crime Branch carried out raids at several places in central Kashmir district of Ganderbal, Shopian district in south and Kupwara district in north. ”Many incriminating materials have been recovered during these raids,” they said.
Jammu and Kashmir administration in April 2019 handed over the investigation of scams in JKPCC to Crime Branch, which filed an FIR and initiated investigation into the frauds.
They said this was a major step towards eradication of corruption in the organisation, stopping and eliminating backdoor appointments and bringing in a culture of transparency, probity and efficiency.
The government appointed a fact finding committee to look into all these allegations after receiving numerous complaints about the functioning of JKPCC, particularly relating to corruption in civil contracts, illegality in appointments at multiple levels and excessive cost and time overruns.
”The committee looked into the manner of awarding contracts to contractors often on a nomination basis without following transparent tendering procedures, diverting funds from one project to another leading to a large number of incomplete projects,” they said.
Apart from these, it also looked into irregularities in appointments at various levels, including that of the Managing Director, inefficiency in functioning and huge time and cost overruns in project implementation, reasons for estimates for construction being much higher than those of the PWD.
They said the committee submitted a voluminous report bringing out in detail large irregularities in the operation of the JKPCC and recommended on improving the organization. ”There are many elements in the findings and observations in the report which are quite alarming and a cause of serious concern,” the committee said in its report.
For an organisation which is over 50 years old, its operations seem to be riddled with ad-hoc functioning, absence of rules and a lack of systematic procedures, it said.
Keeping in view the seriousness of the matter and the findings of the committee, the government decided a probe by crime branch into execution of construction works and irregular procedures in violation of government orders, they added.