The contract for undertaking sanitation work in Mohali for the year 2008-09 has come under the scanner as even several months after the expiry of the previous year’s contract, no new contract has been awarded yet.

Alleging a scam of at least Rs 75 lakh in the total contract amount of Rs 1.5 crore, several elected municipal councillors of the Opposition group in the Mohali Municipal Council (MC) have sought a probe by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau and immediate dissolution of the present civic body for ensuring a free and fair inquiry.

Councillor Kuljit Singh Bedi, who is also a local Congress leader, has accused MC president Rajinder Singh Rana and officials concerned of being hand in glove with the contractor, causing huge losses to the MC besides leaving the sanitation condition deplorable in the city.

On the basis of information procured under the Right to Information Act, Bedi has pointed out various discrepancies and violations of terms and conditions laid down in the contract agreement by the contractor.

Bedi further alleged that the MC president and executive officer, who were authorised to impose a penalty on the contractor, let him off with imposing minor fines as a mere eyewash exercise.

The councillor rued that the agreement provides deduction of 20 per cent of the contract amount in case of unsatisfactory work, but despite the hue and cry raised by councillors in every MC House meet over unsanitary conditions in the city, no such deduction was ever made. “Unsanitary conditions are evident from the fact that Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Mand had to launch a special cleanliness drive,” Bedi argued.

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