JAIPUR: Officials of Jaipur division of Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) have come under the scanner of authorities for passing bills of contractors who supply water through tankers without verification.
In 2021-22, bills of water tankers amounting to around Rs 80 lakh were cleared by junior engineers (JEN) and assistant engineers (AEN) of Jaipur division of PHED without checking.
The initial audit report submitted by the finance advisor said the firm that designed the GPS software to track tanker movements did not intimate the authorities about the discrepancies. Firm director Dinesh Singh refuted the claims saying the software gave continuous alerts to authorities who did not act on it.
In 2018, a water tanker tracking software was developed by the firm, The Console, which kept tabs on the movement of tankers from the point it filled water to the place it supplied. The process included photos, which had to be uploaded in the software.
However, short-circuiting the entire process, drivers uploaded fake pictures of water levels of the tankers. Many pictures uploaded on the software were of drums or dustbins on the streets that were completely unrelated. Tankers were also shown to be completing trips much earlier.
Superintendent engineer Ajay Singh Rathore said, “The audit report said when the firm could see on the software discrepancies in the movement of tankers, it should have intimated us. Notices have been served to engineers seeking their explanations. Action will be taken against the guilty.”
Denying the claims of officials, firm director Singh said, “Red-alerts appeared many-a-times on the screens. I have also written letters to officials to check the functioning of water tankers as they are not reaching their destination. They are just trying to make me a scapegoat to save their officials.”
Sources in the department confirmed that without the officials’ support, this could never happened. Two more audits are ongoing to re-check this point.
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