The Balangir district administration has recently sent another revised estimate of Rs 133.26 crore for the Balangir bypass road project. This was informed by Balangir Action Committee convenor Gopalji Panigrahi at a Press conference here on Monday.
The project has been in the news for submission of an inflated cost report by the district administration and its rejection by the Central Government asking for sending the proposal for reconsideration.
First, the district administration had submitted a proposal of Rs 241.6 crore, which was sent back for reconsideration. And the administration submitted a revised estimate of Rs 224.25 crore. However, the Centre again asked for another revised estimate.
Following this, the district administration sent another estimate of Rs 190.6 crore which was approved by the Ministry but rejected by the Standing Committee on Finance on November 20, 2018 seeking justification for "high price for agricultural land”. The district administration was asked to send yet another proposal.
And on January 24, 2019, the revised estimate of Rs 133.26 crore was sent.
The reduction of project cost from Rs 241.6 crore to Rs 133.26 crore, almost Rs 107 crore, confirms the allegations that irregularities have been committed in land price and other areas, said Gopalji Panigrahi. He demanded action against the officials who are responsible for it.
“Both local MP and MLA have reviewed the progress of the project several times, but how they overlooked the irregularities? We demand action against those responsible for the inflated prices,” said Panigrahi.
Though the Balangir Action Committee has submitted a petition to the Vigilance authorities to inquire into the inflated rates, nothing has been done in this regard so far, he said. Unless the Vigilance police take action against those responsible for it, the committee would resort to agitation, he added.