The additional municipal commissioner of Dehradun has been directed to probe the alleged financial irregularities in construction of the children play zone developed under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). It will be recalled that the play zone which was inaugurated in the recent past has elicited allegations of financial irregularities in its development on the basis of information secured under the Right To Information Act. It is being alleged that the amount spent by the municipal corporation of Dehradun on various aspects of the play zone was much higher than the market price of such items. It is being alleged that upto four times more than the market price was paid for some of the items including lights, bench and other aspects of this facility.
Earlier, talking to this correspondent, the municipal commissioner Vijay Kumar Jogdande said, “The project by the MCD is given under a process of bidding, the lowest bidder gets the work of constructing the Government project. The estimate which was formed by the officials always remains under the DSR. No price is given above the estimated DSR.”
He added, “ Following the inquiry into the allegations, if any irresponsible behaviour will be found to have been committed by the official concerned, further action will be taken against the officer responsible for this.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the children play zone in Gandhi Park was developed under AMRUT which was started two years ago. Despite only half of the work being completed, the zone was inaugurated earlier this year by the then Mayor Vinod Chamoli before the end of his term. Soon after the completion of the works, the zone was inaugurated by the officials during the last month. The project to build the zone as well as to set toy train in the zone was around Rs 1.5 crore.