The Bangalore Metro Reporter
MULTI CRORE LOOT THROUGH CONSTRUCTION!
ADVISORY BODY-KARNATAKA NIRMITHI KENDRA, STARTS CONTRUCTION! CRORES BLOWN AWAY!
Can anybody imagine an organisation registered under the Societies Act with barely a dozen staff execute civil works to the tune of hundreds of crores and that too getting entrusted by the government? If the answer is ‘No’, then it is wrong. The fact is Karnataka Nirmithi Kendra (Karnik) sponsored by government, which is only an advisory agency for providing cost effective technologies in construction, stands as a shining example for this phenomenon. In fact the Karnik has through its activities, proven that it is above the law of the land! Unnoticed by the prying eyes of the people and the CAG, the Nirmithi Kendra is excelling in scams after scams....
ALL ABOUT ME!
Karnataka Nirmithi Kendra (Karnik), a state government sponsored society registered under Societies Act, has over the years become the epicenter of unimaginable corruption. The society has a Board of Directors consisting of few IAS Officers and private persons with the main objectives of providing technology in environmental friendly building materials and pre cast technology in construction sector. The ‘Nirmithi Kendras’ can also provide the low cost building technology to the community and this is the gist and essence of the Karnik which has centers at every district head quarters.
However, the Karnataka Nirmithi Kendra has entered the field of construction. It was registered in 1991 and nobody has heard of this Karnik located at an obscure place in Cauvery Bhavan. In the last few years, it started its branches in most of the districts. Interestingly, the Deputy Commissioner of the district used to look after the Kendras which have only a nominal presence. Whenever a new technology emerges from the R&D, the DCs used to look for the Kendras. By all accounts, the Nirmithi Kendras seldom ventured into constructions activities as it has no infrastructure.
THE STRENGTH!
Lately, the Nirmithi Kendras are in the field of constructions in a big way. The government had directed the DCs to act as its chairman and the CEO of the Zilla Parishat as its Secretary. In a way, the Kendras have become the joint property of the DC and CEO of the ZP at the district level. Even now, the Nirmithi Kendra at Bangalore and also at district head quarters does not have much staff. At the district level, there is only a local engineer to manage the Kendras who is paid a meager salary and provided a small cabin or a table in the DC office. At the state level, as per the information provided by the Nirmithi Kendra, the state body has one Director, two Deputy Directors, one Assistant engineer, one Accounts Manager, one Senior Work Inspector, one Data Entry Operator, two Drivers cum office Assistant and two Office Assistants totaling eleven!
CONSTANT PROGRESS!
Whatsoever, the Nirmithi Kendra over the years, is being entrusted with civil works worth hundreds of crores through Social Welfare, Muzrai, Rural Development, Housing and other government departments. Last year, shockingly, the works volume of Nirmithi Kendras has touched 1000 crore mark! How could an organisation which was established only to provide technology in building construction, execute civil works to the tune of hundreds of crores? To crown it all, the Nirmithi Kendras have no technical expertise or technical personnel, even to supervise the quality of works!
Arguably, the Nirmithi kendras have become money spinner to politicians in power, especially MLAs and bureaucrats like DCs and CEOs of the districts. One cannot even imagine the ‘loot’ in Nirmithi Kendra entrusted works. In 2005-2006, the Kendras had executed civil works worth around 90 crores. Last year it had touched a thousand crores! This year, it may get another extra 300 crores worth works!
TRANSPARENT BLUNDER!
Interestingly, the government has given exemption to Karnik from the Transparency Act up to Rs. 50 lakh in 2009 itself. This implies that the government departments can entrust their works upto 50 lakhs (now it is one crore) to the Karnik without calling for tender. It is this exemption that is the root cause for all the scams.
NO CRITERION!
When a government or a private construction company, wants to bag a big contract, or get empanelled in various government agencies, it should have proper infrastructure - both in manpower and materials like machineries etc. It should be able to design and estimate the work. In some tender process, the companies have to qualify for bidding through pre qualification criterion. For example, if a contractor wants to participate in the ‘Garbage clearing’ tender, he must have sufficient number of Lorries as criterion. Similarly, the company should have a good record of works done and a minimum quantum of work experience in the last couple of years as a stipulation. The company should submit all these details before qualifying for the tender. In addition, the company should have technical personnel in sufficient numbers and there are many more such conditions.
But in the case of Nirmithi Kendra, the less said the better. As it is only an advisory body on low cost - environment friendly and pre cast technologies, it has no manpower, plants or machineries and does not need to have technical persons - men, materials, and machines. Further, the company also does not have a research wing. The new technologies in low cost construction are being developed in the central government agencies and the same is provided to the Karnik which in turn provide to the users department and also community as a whole.
Despite all these ground realities, how can the Nirmithi Kendras get contracts from the government departments for building works?
MODUS OPERANDI!
The modus operandi allegedly is very simple. The DC and the CEO of ZP in the districts entrust the building works to the Kendras and also pay the ‘advance’ money to start the work. The Project Manager after receiving the advance money returns about 30 to 40 percent of the same to the DCs. And the rest is understandable. Nobody bothers about the execution of the work and its quality. The District Project Manager of the Kendra will do the work by giving it to contractors. Finally, without anybody’s notice, the full settlement will be made to the Kendras. There is no standard yardstick to the DCs - CEOs in allotting the contract to the Kendra. As the Kendras have been exempted from the Transparency Act, the DCs - CEOs will straightaway entrust the works to the Kendras.
ESTIMATE TRICK!
Interestingly, the Kendras at both District and state level, is incapable to prepare estimates or designs. But the DCs (also read CEOs) have a readymade solution to this problem. They first ask the KRIDL (formerly KLAC, a state sponsored agency to execute rural works) to prepare the design and estimate for the proposed work by promising entrustment. Naturally, the KRIDL submits the designs and estimates to the DCs and it contains a separate service charges plus VAT plus labour cess. The DCs then give a copy of this estimate to the Kendra Manager to submit his estimate without mentioning the service charge, labour cess and VAT. And the DCs simply entrust the work to the Kendra.
Of course, entrustment of works to the Nirmithi Kendras has become the biggest scam. How could an organisation with not even two technocrats on its rolls, undertake works worth crores? A local engineer, who is designated as the Project Manager is always at the mercy of the DCs. The local engineers who can hardly prepare an estimate for a small house, simply follows the orders of the DCs who entrusts them with big projects without any whimper. They in turn entrust the works to the contractors who compromise with quality and quantity of the works.
Allegedly, there is share for local body members, ZP members and sometimes even MLAs who pressurise the government to entrust the works to the Nirmithi Kendras only. Many of the government departments like Social Welfare, Rural Development etc. spend hundreds of crores towards hostel buildings, rehabilitation works, etc. The responsibility of control and suspension of the schemes of these department lies with the DCs and CEOs of the districts. As such they have become the decision makers. It is they who have to inspect the works, test its quality and pay the bill. For name sake, the Nirmithi Kendras have two private firms as third party inspection agencies. One does not understand why the engineering colleges or reputed research centres are not given this task!
True, the DCs have reasons to prefer Nirmithi Kendras. If they entrust the works to the KRIDL, allegedly the ‘returns’ will be less as the KRIDL officials have to look after the peoples representatives and their own superiors like ADs, DDs, JDs and up to Chairman. That is why their contribution to DC-CEOs is very less compared to Nirmithi Kendras.
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