Two HSCL officials arrested

RF Bureau: The Odisha Vigilance Team has arrested two officials of Hindustan Steel Works Construction Limited for their involvement in the construction of substandard hostels for SC students in Sonepur district. The vigilance team raided and arrested at N1/157, Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar.

The arrested officers are Senior Site Engineer Saurabh Dey and Site Engineer Saptarasi Goswami. An application has been made to remand them after being produced in the Vigilance Court of Balangir today.

Vigilance investigation revealed that HSCL entered into an agreement with ‘A’ class developer Vijay Kumar Agarwal and his son Deepak Kumar Agarwal to construct 4 hostels for Scheduled Caste students in Sonepur district at a cost of Rs 2 crore 71 lakh. But the HSCL officials failed to supervise the work properly and allowed the developer to do substandard work.

Similarly, HSCL did not have any approved design and drawing for the construction of the hostel. No soil tests were done to determine the foundation requirements of the buildings.

Earlier, ‘A’ class developer Vijay Kumar Agrawal and his son Deepak Agrawal were arrested in this case.

Investigation revealed that the SC & ST Development Department had signed a contract with HSCL for a project worth Rs 43.94 crore.

Among the projects was construction of hostels for SC/ST students in KBK district. It included 26 ST hostels in Rayagada district, 12 in Balangir and Subarnapur districts and 3 advanced high school buildings in Gaurmunda, Raska and Bijedore.

In return, HSCL floated several tenders for projects. Out of which they entered into an agreement with Vijay Agrawal and Deepak Agrawal for the construction of 12 hostel buildings with a contract value of Rs. 8,12,30,877. It includes 4 hostel buildings for SC students in Sonepur district, the contract price of which is Rs.2,71,24,207.

Vigilance has filed a case against HSCL officials and developers under the Prevention of Corruption Act 2018. The investigation is ongoing.