The Hindu : New Delhi News : Khurana sees a scam in DJB valuation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 29, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Khurana sees a scam in DJB valuation

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana today accused the Sheila Dikshit Government of indulging in "blatant misuse of public money'' by paying a foreign firm Rs 14 crores in the name of conducting valuation of properties of the Delhi Jal Board. Charging that this "smacked of high corruption'', he said the BJP had decided to file a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation on the subject.

Alleging that DJB privatisation process was being completed at the instance of the World Bank and the valuation of the DJB properties was part of the process, Mr Khurana said a regulator had been appointed for the DJB and the water tariff had been increased.

Stating that it was at the instance of World Bank that the valuation of the properties was done by Price Waterhouse Coopers, Mr Khurana said if the DJB had wanted then the valuation could have been done by its employees also.

Wondering "what was the pressing need to ask a foreign company to valuate DJB'', he said as there was a criminal misuse of public money, the BJP has decided to ask the CBI to probe as to why the huge amount of Rs 14 crores was spent on valuation at a time when DJB had taken the plea of financial crisis for increasing water tariff in the Capital.

Mr Khurana said his party has also decided to take the matter to the High Court as it does not think that the Sheila Dikshit Government would come clean on the matter. Stating that DJB was going ahead with the privatisation and the next phase would include dividing the Board as this is what has been stated in the time-table of the World Bank, Mr Khurana said the BJP would not allow the citizens of Delhi to be fooled and cheated in the matter.

The former Chief Minister posed 10 questions to the Delhi Government on the water privatisation issue. He demanded to know what was the compelling need to valuate the properties of DJB; why was the report kept a secret and specific instruction was given that it would not be photocopied; why was the list of DJB properties done by a foreign company and not by a Board employee; and on what basis was the "ridiculously low'' figure of Rs 629 per square metre arrived at while valuating the properties.

Mr Khurana also wanted to know why the buildings and structures standing on the DJB properties were not considered when the valuation of the properties was done. Also, he wanted an explanation on whether or not the valuation was done as part of the time-table set by the World Bank and if DJB had recently imposed a tax to mop up Rs 3,000 crores as per the conditions set by the World Bank when it had been approached for a loan. The BJP leader also questioned if the 24X7 scheme for water supply in South Delhi and the appointment of the Regulator a part of the privatisation process. Finally, he asked if the Chief Minister was not trying to mislead and befool the people by saying that DJB will not be privatised.

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