'Ahmedabad civic body favoured firm close to Nitin Gadkari'

After BJP president Nitin Gadkari came under scanner for alleged financial and managerial irregularities, the opposition Congress has accused the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) of showing undue favour to the companies with proximity to BJP chief.

The leader of opposition in AMC, Badruddin Shaikh, on Thursday, alleged that the civic body lowered the penalty amount from Rs10.19 crore to Rs85 lakh for the Ideal Road Builders Pvt Ltd (IRB).

Shaikh said, “The wave of corruption unleashed by Gadkari is not limited only to a few firms, but it can be seen in AMC too.”

Shaikh said that for the delayed construction of Narol-Naroda BRTS route, the municipal commissioner had suggested levying penalty of Rs10.19 crore as per terms and conditions of tenders. However, BJP-ruled standing committee relaxed the penalty to just Rs85 lakhs, he added.

Shaikh said that construction of routes for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city had been carried out by Ideal Road Builders Pvt Ltd. “It can be recalled that the same firm financed Gadkari’s firm ‘Poorti Power and Sugar Ltd’ by providing loan worth crores,” added Shaikh.

Not only this, due to this favouritism, the civic body had to suffer huge losses as the work is not up to the mark and also the penalty amount was reduced drastically, after political influence. For the construction of first phase of BRTS, Ideal Road Builders was given the work of constructing it at Rs133 crore, which didn’t complete the work in the stipulated time limit.

Furthermore, on one hand while the contractor has delayed the work and yet got relaxation in penalty, the work of BRTS routes has been poorly constructed.

Moreover, JJ Patel Infrastructural and Engineering Pvt Ltd, a group company of Ideal Road Builders, has also been favoured by the civic body. Elaborating more on it, Shaikh said, “Due to delay in construction of road on 132 feet road, the contractor JJ Patel should be charged Rs4 crore as per the tender norms.

But the standing committee reduced the whopping amount and just charged a small token penalty of Rs20 lakh.” This civic body, due to political influence, is suffering huge losses.