Par panel grills govt officials on CWG irregularities

New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) After CVC and CBI, the conduct ofthe 2010 Commonwealth Games is now under the scrutiny of aParliamentary committee which today grilled top officials ofthe Urban Development ministry and civic agencies, seekingdetails about various construction projects.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development,headed by NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav, wanted to know the basisof selection of vendors, contractors and sourcing ofconstruction material and whether pricing was done atcompetitive rates.

Additional Secretary in the Urban Development Ministry R CMishra, other senior officials from the ministry and from theDelhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) appeared before the Committee.

The DDA and CPWD were working under the Urban DevelopmentMinistry for carrying out various infrastructure projects likebuilding or renovating stadia, constructing houses forathletes and beautifying the capital.

The Committee members asked them to submit details aboutvarious aspects of the projects undertaken by them includingthe reasons for selecting a particular vendor and a particularproduct.

The members also wanted the officials to make separatesubmissions regarding the availability of certain materialswhich were procured from foreign countries and whether thesame could have been procured domestically.

They also sought details about the cost incurred inprocurement of materials and the choice of certain foreigncontractors for projects like the Commonwealth Games Village,which was developed by Emmar-MGF, a Dubai-based constructioncompany.

The members also wanted to know why DDA bought a sizablenumber of flats in the Games Village once it had asked theforeign company to build it.

The Parliamentary panel wanted to know whether someadditional flats were constructed at the village beyond thesanctioned 1100 and if so, the details of their sale.

Sources said a Congress member wanted the DDA and CPWD tobe disbanded and construction, maintenance and renovation workof government buildings outsourced to the private sector.

Interestingly, only a couple of Congress members attendedthe meeting today.

Another member wanted to know why, despite following thehighest construction standards, the basement of a fewbuildings in Games Village were flooded when the capitalreceived excess rains a month before the event.

The agencies have been asked to submit their detailedreplies in the next 20 days.