Punjab Vigilance Bureau registers case over irregularities in tenders for foodgrain transportation

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Tuesday said it has registered a case against three employees of a private firm and some officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department for alleged irregularities in the allotment of tenders for labour, cartage and transportation of foodgrains in Ludhiana.

One of the private firm employees -- identified as Telu Ram of Udhanwal village in SBS Nagar district -- has been arrested.

A bureau spokesperson said the case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against Telu Ram, Jagroop Singh and Sandeep Bhatia -- proprietors of Gurdas Ram and Company -- besides some government officials.

During investigation, it was found that at the time of submitting tenders for labour, cartage and transportation works in Ludhiana in 2020-21, the lists of vehicles submitted by the company contained registration numbers of scooters, motorcycles and cars which were not verified by the officials concerned due to criminal connivance with each other.

He said under the department's policy, it was mandatory for the committee to reject the technical bid for the above mentioned reason but it was not done.

The spokesperson further said in gate passes pertaining to loading and unloading of foodgrain, the registration numbers of vehicles used for the carriage have been found to be of scooters, motorcycles and cars though such vehicles cannot transport goods.

He said details of the registration numbers of the vehicles as well as the quantity of the commodity mentioned in these gate passes prima facie appeared to be a case of fake reporting, suggesting embezzlement of foodgrains.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)