The Kerala government has reopened a Vigilance probe against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The case dates back to his tenure as the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) secretary. New Delhi: Two decades after a Rs 1,600-crore World Bank highway project dissolved into corruption claims and the tragic suicide of a Malaysian project manager, its ghost has returned to haunt India’s top election official.
The revival of this ghost could not come at a worse time for Kumar. The poll watchdog chief is facing Opposition criticism over the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Leaders from Opposition parties, students organistions and civil society groups have led calls for his immediate resignation. The KSTP was planned as a major road modernisation programme. The status of the inquiry into the allegations surrounding Kumar did not lead to a prosecution. Ultimately, the state chose to hand the contract right back to PATI-BEL. The decision was criticised by the Congress, which was then in Opposition. Then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy asked the government to explain why the PATI-BEL was given the work again while investigations were pending.
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala ordered reinvestigation on October 4 after Congress leader Malayinkeezhu Venugopal submitted a complaint. It had a budget of Rs 1,600 crore and was financed through a World Bank loan. It covered the renovation and modernisation of about 1,600 km of major roads under the state PWD. The project was first proposed during the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M)-led government between 1996 and 2001. In March 2010, then Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the assembly that two KSTP-related Vigilance investigations were still underway. The company was given an additional Rs 72 crore on top of the original Rs 216-crore contract.
“I found that there is substance in the complaint after examining it,” the minister said.
