The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : RGUHS: probe ordered into payment of advance money

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RGUHS: probe ordered into payment of advance money

Special Correspondent

No plan to shift RGUHS campus from Ramanagara
Rs. 9.63 crore released to KIADB for land acquisition

BANGALORE: The State Government has ordered a high-level inquiry into the “illegal” advance payment of Rs. 33.37 crore to a contractor of a Hyderabad-based company for construction works of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in Ramanagara by the previous Kumaraswamy Government.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that the advance payment has been made to the contractor of a private firm before the land was acquired for the university campus. Before handing over the required land, the Public Works Department had released the money to the contractor, he said.

Construction work of the university buildings could have commenced if the land acquisition process had been completed. Since payment had been made before the land acquisition, the Government suspended two senior engineers — K. Jayaprakash, Chief Engineer, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), and B.L. Ravindra Babu, Superintendent Engineer, Communications and Buildings, PWD. The Government has taken back Rs. 33.37 crore paid to the contractor, the Chief Minister said.

Dissatisfied with the reply given by Mr. Yeddyurappa, Janata Dal (Secular) members, led by H.D. Revanna, staged a dharna in the House and demanded a detailed discussion of the issue.

Mr. Revanna, who was Public Works Minister in the Kumaraswamy Government, has sought a probe into the matter.

An order would be issued asking a retired IAS officer to conduct the probe and submit a report to the Government, Mr. Yeddyurappa said.

He said that there was no plan to shift the campus of the RGUHS from Ramanagara to other districts.

The Kumarawamy Government had decided to relocate the RGUHS from Bangalore to Ramanagara.

In a reply to the issue raised by H.C. Balakrishan (JD-S), the Chief Minister said tenders had been called on March 15, 2007 without obtaining administrative and technical approvals.

While the administrative approval was given on May 14, 2007, the technical clearance was given for Rs. 310 crore on July 2, 2007.

On July 25, 2007, work was awarded for the contractor, he said.

Of the 216.26 acres of land required for the university campus at Ramanagara, only 145.09 acres had been handed over to Directorate of Medical Education and later to the PWD on September 11, 2007. A sum of Rs. 9.63 crore had been released to Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for land acquisition, he said.

Stating that less than 20 per cent of the money required had been released to KIADB for land acquisition, Mr. Yeddyurappa said the PWD had paid Rs. 33.37 crore to the contractor before the land acquisition.

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