The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which has undertaken the road construction and road junction improvement under the Solapur Integrated Road Development Project (IRDP) with a two-phased budget of
Rs 91.50 crore, has come under fire.
The three member expert committee has suggested a detailed audit of work and asked the MSRDC not to issue completion of work certificate until the contractors give proof that the work has been done as per standard specifications.
The MSRDC chief engineer had constituted a committee of three members — Dr S.L Dhingra, Dr Vinay M Topkar and P I Khatu — to check the work done by the contractors. The MSRDC work has been given out to private contractors and is being supervised by Dalal Mott Macdonald (DMM). The three-member committee assessed work quality through qualitative tests on materials used and qualitative assessment of technical staff associated with the project, including supporting staff.
On August 20, 2005, material of M/S Patil and company was tested and in September, material of M/S Mehul construction company was tested.
The report states that, the work undertaken from Bhaiyya chowk to Koyananagar, Navi Peth to rest house to Mahila hospital, Shivaji chowk to Gurunanak nagar, Hotgi Road to Chaitanyanagar, the airport road and Solapur to Begumpur Road were constructed of poor quality and will not be able to give service to the user for a long time.
The three-member committee also found that the number of qualified persons appointed were less in number than committed in the offer. Besides, the list did not contain the cv of any single person termed as a ‘key professional.’ The senior resident engineer was not resident on site and he was not available to the team for information during their second visit.
The three-member team has also reported that no proper drainage has been provided, which has led to stagnation of water on roads and its sides. Proper connections of drains and cross drainage works were not completed which caused damage to the road condition and surface of roads completed. The team has suggested the MSRDC to ensure that the contractors and the consultants comply with the commitment made with reference to the manpower, equipment, systems and any other service.
The report was handed over by the MSRDC to the Lokhit Manch organisation under the Right To Information Act, 2005 recently. The office bearer Vidyadhar Doshi had raised the issue of bad roads to the concerned minister Anil Deshmukh, but no action was taken against the contractors for reasons best known to them. Now, the report has been made public under the right to know.