Rail projects in northeast under CBI scanner

New Delhi: With the Narendra Modi government trying to push through massive growth in railway infrastructure in the northeast, it is learnt that many of the region’s projects are under a cloud of corruption even as the CBI has registered a case to probe serious defects in the execution of work by the railway contractors in Demlakang village in Shillong (Meghalaya).

“Investigation has revealed that several crores (Rs 7.32 crore) has already been released to the contractor without the execution of the work in Demlakang village. Besides, excess payment of Rs 20 crore was made to the contractor for cutting the hard (rocky) soil, as shown, in several panchayats in Shillong. Investigators found that entire area of the trenches in villages, including Lapmala (3,100metre), Umlatdoh (2,835metre) and Wahsarang (5,186metre) were soft and did not require any cutting work at all,” sources said. The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against two senior officials of the RailTel Corporation of India Limited and a private contractor in this regard. The CBI sleuths carried out joint physical inspections of these villages from November 23 to November 25 and found “serious defects” in the execution work by the contractors.

“Less depth in trenches were found at the site as against the depth shown in the site registers of the contractors. The railway authorities have already made excess payment of Rs 16 crore to the accused contractors for the work,” sources said.

As far as the CBI’s investigation into showing soft soil as rocky area is concerned, sources said, “In Lapmala panchayat, around 3,100metre trenching and ducting were shown as chase cutting in rocky area and, therefore, excess payment of Rs 5.6 crore was made to the contractor. It is found that mostly soil was soft,” sources said.

Similarly, it is found that the soil in Umlatdoh panchayat did not require any cutting at all.