Charges of corruption and misuse of official power have stalled the construction of the country’s first National Youth Resource Centre (NYRC) at the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD) in Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
The RGNIYD, set up in 1993 under the Ministry of Youth Affairs is enmeshed in a multi-crore scam, according to senior Ministry officials and staff members of the institute.
The latest scam to come out of the institute is that the funds meant for constructing the NYRC and library have been diverted for some other purpose about which the authorities in Chennai are reluctant to come out in the open.
“A multi-crore contract was signed between the RGNIYD and the public sector National Buildings Construction Corporation ltd (NBCC) on September 12, 2011 for planning, design and construction of the NYRC, library and external development works at the campus on a turnkey basis,” said the Ministry official.
According to RGNIYD officials, the NBCC prepared and submitted the entire drawings and plans for the construction. The Executive Committee of the institute approved the entire plan and the NBCC commenced the construction.
However, in a letter dated January 29, 2014, the Ministry of Youth Affairs instructed the authorities in RGNIYD to cancel the contract with NBCC and finalise another agreement with one of the public sector units and that too within one week, said a senior official of the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
He said no reason was furnished by the Ministry to cancel the contract with the NBCC and go for a fresh tendering process. “But the directive itself is a mystery. The Minister concerned wanted the tender formalities to be finished and finalised within six days. This is not only mysterious but even strange,” he said.
Jayalakshmi, Registrar in-charge, RGNIYD, said the contract with the NBCC was cancelled and a fresh contract was signed with National Project Consultancy Corporation. “Please do not ask us the reasons behind the cancellation of the agreement with the NBCC and signing of a new contract with the NPCC. We were given directives from the Ministry and as Government servants we obeyed the same,” Jayalakshmi told The Pioneer. She expressed her helplessness in giving more details as she was not authorised to speak to the media.
A note from the RGNIYD says: “In compliance to the telephonic orders received from the Director, a letter intimating cancellation of the agreement of October 2011 was sent to NBCC on 30.01.2014 at about 8.45 pm by fax and email. The same was also sent by post on 31.01.2014 by speed post”.
The speed with which the more than two-year old agreement was cancelled and awarded to the NPCC raised many eyebrows in the Chennai campus. Equally distressing was the speed with which the formalities were completed.
The RGNIYD note further says: “The Ministry also sent a draft tender notice and a list of companies to whom the tender notices are to be issued, through email for necessary action at RGNIYD’s end. A copy of the email is placed at p/2A-F for perusal. The Director instructed the Registrar i/c over the phone to sign the tender notice and send it to the list of PSUs identified and sent by the Ministry. Further, the Director, through SMS, has authorised the Registrar i/c to sign the tender notice to be issued to the PSUs”.
Though the Ministry officials said the then Minister was not happy with the works carried out by the NBCC, the name of the public sector again figured in the list sent by the Ministry to the RGNIYD for awarding a fresh contract.
Telephone, email, SMS and all other forms of communications were deployed to finalise a deal. The reason is not known officially. What stands out is the awarding of the contract to NPCC just days before the elections to the lok Sabha. “Even before completing the contractual formalities, the Ministry of Youth Affairs asked the RGNIYD to pay Rs16 crore to NPCC. “It was at the instance of Sudhir Kumar, a joint secretary in the Ministry, the amount was paid. There is no doubt that the money was siphoned off for the election expenditure of the Congress,” said the official.
As a denouement of the comedy of errors being enacted in the institute, the Executive Committee in its meeting held on October 1, 2014, cancelled the contract awarded to the NPCC also. Interestingly, it was Jayalakshmi, the registrar who presided over both the meetings which awarded and cancelled the NPCC contract.