BJP state vice president and former minister Neelkanth Singh Munda said that the Jharkhand government is busy fooling the people of the state. The state government is busy looting the work done by Raghubar government by claiming it as its own.
Munda said that the Jharkhand Bhawan which Hemant government is trying to include in the achievements of his government is the gift of Raghubar government. Also, the construction work of buildings like Jharkhand Assembly, Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi Press Club Building, Haj House is the contribution of the BJP government.
Munda said that during the five year tenure of the previous Raghubar government, 22865 km of roads were constructed, while the present government has constructed only 5200 km of roads.
Munda said that the government involved in corruption, in order to provide work to its favourites, first selects the contractor and floats the tender after the work is completed. Munda further said that corruption has broken all records in the state of Jharkhand in the last four years. Naturally, the building construction department and road department are not untouched by this. There is looting in departments across the state. This department has become a den of commissioneering and corruption. The BJP leader said that in the nine months of the current financial year 2023-24, only 44.61 percent of the total amount of Rs 5350 crore of the plan budget for building construction could be spent.
Munda said that against the sanctioned 1749 posts in the Building Construction Department, only 497 are working while 1252 posts are vacant.
Munda said that the game of tender has been going on in the building construction department by ignoring the rules and regulations. The tradition of first work, then tender is going on. Preferred contractors are being given work first and then the tender process is started for show. The department officials are completely ignoring the guidelines. The case of repair work of Jamshedpur Circuit House building at a cost of Rs 6.76 lakh, repair of Circuit House boundary wall at a cost of Rs 4.98 lakh, repair work of Bhalki Panchayat building at a cost of Rs 24.87 lakh and repair work of Singhpura Panchayat building at the same cost is just an example. The tender for these schemes was issued after the work was done.
Munda said that it can be clearly understood from how the bureaucracy is dominant in the Building Construction Department that the Secretary of the Building Construction Department, despite calling the Health Minister twice to inspect the MGM Medical College, is not picked up. JEs in the department are not relieved even after years of transfer, they have been accused of contracting in partnership with registered contractors.
Munda said that most of the divisional in-charges of the building construction department are dependent on the system. One engineer handles the work of many engineers. The post of Executive Engineer is vacant in many places.
Munda said that in the nine months of the current financial year 2023-24, only 56.65 percent of the total amount of Rs 631 crore of the plan budget for road construction could be spent.