Funds misuse led to QQSUDA boycott

hyderabad: the alleged misappropriation of funds by the quli qutub shah urban development authority (qqsuda) while executing the nandanavanam project reportedly prompted the government to stop assigning new projects to the authority. sources in the hyderabad district collectorate told the times of india that the authority used as many as 80 contractors to execute works worth just rs 6.85 crore in the nandanavanam project.the construction of a central water channel on the musi river bed and link roads were assigned to the authority, with allocations of rs 3.70 crore and rs 3.85 crore respectively. the authority completed work worth rs 7.78 crore from march 1998 to end of 1999 and an amount of rs 6.85 crore was released by the government, which was subsequently disbursed to the contractors. the authority constructed a 12 ft wide central water channel from puranapul to chaderghat, over a stretch of 4.36 km, at a cost of rs 3.7 crore. but the work was divided into eight reaches and each assigned to a different contractor. though the specifications, quality and other requirements were the same for almost all reaches, the authority preferred to allot them to several different contractors. similarly, for the construction of a 1.4 km stretch of road from the amberpet causeway to the chaderghat bridge and a 3.5 km stretch from puranapul to moghal-ka-nala, the authority engaged more than 70 contractors and they were allotted works worth rs 4.18 crore. the contractors were paid rs 3.55 crore after the amount was released by the government. unlike the normal process, the contract was split into nearly 70 works with funding for the work ranging from rs 75,000 to rs 12 lakh. the award of contracts to 80 contractors for the construction of the water channel and link roads reportedly led to the misappropriation of funds by the contractors in collusion with officials. following a report sent by the hyderabad collectorate in this regard, the government is learnt to have stopped allotting new works to qqsuda. however, a senior qqsuda official said, “all the contracts were awarded after calling open tenders which were decided by a six-member technical and coordination committee constituted by the state government in january 1998 and not by the authority itself.’’