DVAC detects irregularities in building flats for flood victims

CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked five employees of the TN Slum Clearance Board for the irregularities in the construction of 2112 flats built for the victims of the 2015 floods. The constructions were taken up at a cost of Rs.182 crore and the DVAC estimates that the loss to the state exchequer and TN Slum Clearance Board could be Rs 32 crore.

According to sources in the police, sleuths from the DVAC found major irregularities in accounts and as well quality of buildings constructed at Keezhkathirpur at a cost of Rs.182 crore for 2112 families who were affected while staying in the banks of river Vegavathi in Kancheepuram during the 2015 floods.

The DVAC has listed 6 persons as accused in their FIR. While five of them are employees of TN Slum Clearance Board (now TN Urban Habitat Development Board) including two retired officers, one person on the accused list is the private contractor named Saran Prasad of BNR Infrastructure.

The accused officials are TP Devadas, then superintendent engineer of TNSCB, (now retired), Ms. Mala, then EE and now SE in Chennai circle, K Raja, CE, now retired, T Sundaramurthy then JE, noe EE, Chennai circle and P Thirupathy, then AEE, now in Chennai circle.

DVAC, which started the probe based on a complaint, found that apartments, each measuring just over 400 sq ft in 33 blocks, were constructed but the officials failed to ensure the quality of the construction and had allegedly helped the contractor in making a huge profit in the process.

After finding shortcomings in structural design, the structural quality control (SQC) had many times asked the officials to correct them, which was never done, the DVAC said. The accused had used less quality concrete and failed to stick to the plinth plan and a committee consisting of CUBE members and IIT experts found that during the construction of buildings, quality checks were not followed. “At present, there are cracks in many walls and in certain blocks, water poured in the upper floor is leaked through the roof of the floor below it,” DVAC noted further.