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MCD Commissioner admits to `bungling' in abattoir project

Staff Reporter

Expresses surprise over addition of new features without approval

NEW DELHI: Giving yet another twist to the controversial Ghazipur slaughter house project, Municipal Commissioner A.K. Nigam on Wednesday agreed that there could have been misappropriation of funds in the multi-crore project. Describing it as a "strange project", Mr. Nigam expressed surprise over the steep increase in project cost even as MCD Standing Committee Chairman Mukesh Goel asked him to get the entire issue probed by a "competent authority".

Replying to various objections raised by councillors on the project at the Standing Committee meeting, Mr. Nigam said the project cost was increased from Rs.65 crores to Rs.185 crores but there was no justification to this cost escalation. Similarly, after the cost was increased, no re-evaluation was done nor fresh tendering ordered, which raises suspicion. Stating that the cost of the project had now been revised to Rs.120-125 crores, Mr. Nigam expressed surprise over addition of new features without proper approvals.

"Some decisions taken since work on the slaughter house at Ghazipur began were not in favour of the ambitious project. Some unnecessary features have been removed to bring down its cost," he said, adding that they were now being cautious while disbursing money to the project contractor.

Seeking support from the councillors to ensure that the project work continued smoothly, the Municipal Commissioner also informed that two separate technical committees have been formed that were looking into the project's engineering work and procurement of machinery. Earlier raising the issue, BJP councillor Vijender Gupta alleged misappropriation of funds in the project and unnecessary favour shown to a particular contractor. Congress councillors also supported him and pulled up officials for showing haste in releasing funds.

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