Ahmedabad, May 19: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has initiated significant action against financial and procedural irregularities in stormwater drainage projects across the city. Following a vigilance audit that revealed discrepancies in measurement records and billing, the corporation has suspended four engineering officials and ordered the recovery of millions of rupees.
This action comes after the AMC’s vigilance department conducted a preliminary investigation into various contracts in the Eastern Zone. The investigation uncovered irregularities such as tampering with measurement books, duplicate entries, and discrepancies between the work done on-site and the recorded quantities.
The inquiry involved contractors, project management consultants (PMC), and engineering officials. Statements were recorded from several agencies, including Vist Construction, Meeral Infrastructure, Dhruvi Buildcon Private Limited, Ro-Gold Waste Management Private Limited, and Vincenzo Projects Private Limited. The PMC involved was TÜV Rheinland (India) Private Limited and IR Class System and Solution Private Limited.
In a major case, stormwater drainage work in the Ramol-Hathijan ward was awarded to Vist Construction under draft TP schemes 107, 108, and 115, with TÜV Rheinland (India) acting as the PMC. Allegations of duplication in measurements and manipulation of entries in measurement books were revealed.
The original value of this project was ₹7.33 crore, with an approved cost of ₹6.68 crore. More than ₹5.81 crore had already been disbursed.
Investigators found that the work had been reassigned to another party, and it was alleged that the original measurement book pages were tampered with before the inquiry.
The municipal corporation has ordered the filing of an FIR and initiated the recovery process for this case.
In the same contract package, duplicate entries for pipeline works were found between Vist Construction and Meeral Infrastructure in surrounding areas. This has resulted in a proposed recovery of over ₹2.34 crore from Vist Construction alone, with additional recoveries for other discrepancies in measurements.
In a separate case involving the Vastral ward, investigators found irregularities in stormwater and drainage line works related to Dhruvi Buildcon Private Limited and Bhagirath Construction, including copying measurements from previous projects and billing discrepancies.
The investigation revealed that some entries in the measurement books matched work done in 2024, leading to payments being made for portions of the project that were not completed.
The municipal corporation has calculated a recovery of over ₹81 lakh, including interest, due to discrepancies in measurements for manhole construction, which caused additional losses.
In light of the investigation’s findings, the municipal commissioner has suspended four officials from the Eastern Zone engineering department with immediate effect.
The suspended officials include Additional Municipal Engineer Rajesh Rathwa, Deputy Municipal Engineer Utkarsh Bhabhor, Assistant Municipal Engineer Ramesh Bariya, and Assistant Engineer Alpesh Makwana. A departmental inquiry has also been initiated against them.
The corporation has begun the process of blacklisting the PMC firm TÜV Rheinland (India) Private Limited, which is accused of negligence in supervision and documentation, including failure to properly monitor essential registers such as MPR, transportation records, pipe-laying registers, and daily progress reports.
Officials have stated that no new work will be assigned to the involved agencies until the ongoing investigation is complete.
The municipal corporation has also directed that FIRs be filed against those found guilty and announced measures to improve the entire system. These measures include a revised procedure for maintaining measurement book records and strict pre-audit checks for bill processing, which have already been issued through an official circular.
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