In some cases tenders are overdue by three years. ``For example,'' says a DDA officer, ``the Rohtak road transport centre parking lot contract fee is Rs 2 lakh per month, but for the past three years tenders have not been called and the DDA has lost at least Rs 72 lakh because of this. And DDA records simply say that it is not allotted since there has been no bid or tender for this. The total loss is more than Rs 2.75 crore.'' DDA Vice Chairman P.K. Ghosh, when contacted, expressed his inability to comment on the huge loss or the action taken by the DDA. ``Please contact Sharda Prasad, Commissioner (Land), and he will be able to tell you something,'' was all Ghosh said.

Sharda Prasad, told Express Newsline that as soon as he had received information about the racket, he constituted a two-member team comprising Arvind Kumar, Director (Vigilance), and Amar Chatterjee, Director (Land). ``They checked some lots and found that though the terms of contract had expired, neither were fresh tenders floated nor was any alternate arrangement made. It appears that the contractors continued to collect money and shared it with the officers. Three people have been suspended,'' he said. A DDA official informed that the three officers who have been suspended are N.K. Aggarwal and Surender Singh Rana, both junior engineers, and O.P. Sharma, assistant director.

Param Yadav, general secretary of the Engineers Association, however, claims that the three officers are simply being victimized. ``Do you think that a Rs 2.75 crore parking racket can flourish without the knowledge of senior officers? The junior engineers had given it in writing that the tenders were expiring and fresh tenders should be floated. But nobody followed that up.

The JEs have no say in the tendering process. They are just being made scapegoats. There should be an independent inquiry and the big fish should be netted for once,'' he says.

The DDA has 36 parking lots in the Capital. Eight of these are untendered. Some others have not attracted bidders and in the case of yet others, courts have stayed allotment of contracts.

But what is shocking is that DDA officials in the commercial land department had not bothered to float tenders for some parking lots. ``Take the plot numbers 14-16 near Paras cinema in Nehru Place. In a busy business centre like Nehru Place you can imagine the number of cars that come here.

But the DDA has already lost Rs 6 lakh as revenue here. The problem is that nobody has bothered to take action,'' adds another official.

Sources say that the parking racket is flourishing in the DDA. ``This state of affairs is impossible without official connivance. Tenders are not floated and contractors continue to make money. In a lot where they get Rs 3 lakh every month, the contractor gets to keep only one-fourth. The rest is given as bribes,''he adds.

The contract for the parking site in the basement of Bhikaji Cama place expired on September 19 and same is the case with the parking lot on plot numbers 6,7,8 and 9. The loss to the DDA here has been Rs 4.2 lakh here.

The DDA is also losing money as several of its parking lots have still not been allotted. ``Take, for instance, the parking area between Engineers India Limited and Punjab National Bank building in Bhikaji Cama Place. The lot remains unallotted like the ones at block A-1 in Janakpuri and C-block community centre again in Janakpuri. The government is losing money and some people are making a lot of money at the government's expense,'' say DDA sources.

With an inquiry still underway, Commissioner Prasad said he would not be able to confirm the Rs 2.75 crore amount. ``No doubt there have been huge losses. But they are still being assessed. I was even informed about the three-year delay in tendering. The inquiry will reveal all facts. Till then we have made some temporary arrangements in these parking lots,'' he added.