On April 25, 2011 Kalmadi was arrested by CBI for awarding illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer (The funds of a government or institution or individual) and after being questioned over alleged irregularities in the conduct of Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) held in London in 2009,
CBI arrested Kalmadi under Sections 120 B and 420 (criminal conspiracy and cheating) of the Indian Penal Code in the Commonwealth Games Time Scoring Equipment scam.
Kalmadi's membership of the Indian National Congress Party was suspended after being arrested and charged with corruption. On April 26, 2011 he was sacked from the post of president of the Indian Olympic Association.
NEW DELHI: The amount spent for streetscaping and beautification of roads for 'aesthetics' before the Commonwealth Games could have been enough to build a new 94 km two-lane highway with paved shoulder between Delhi and Panipat. The three government agencies in the national capital spent Rs 332.45 crore for such works at an exorbitant expenditure of Rs 4.8 crore per km.
According to NHAI (The National Highways Authority of India's performance with respect to the upgrade of highways) officials, per km cost of two-lane highway with paved shoulder is around Rs 3.5 crore. India has experienced how construction or upgradation of a national highway stretch fuels economic activities in the areas adjoining the corridor.
The Public Works Department (PWD), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and DIMTS were the five agencies which carried out streetscaping (the appearance or view of a street) and road beautification of 16 packages with the PWD alone took up works on 50% of these stretches.
The PWD had engaged private contractors for beautification of roads around Yamuna Sports Complex, CWG Village, IGI Stadium (Ashram to Bhairon Marg), Kishan Ghat, Chhatarsal Stadium, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range and Africa Avenue. According to the CAG audit report on the Games, the Delhi government decided in 2004 to implement streetscaping and beautification before the Games. But the project remained in a dormant stage till May 2008 when the government started selection of consultants.
The Central auditor's report says while PWD work spanned over 42km, MCD project covered 23km. NDMC, DDA and DIMTS executed the streetscaping of only 7.5km. The audit report said that the projects were consultant driven. In the case of PWD, the work largely went to Satya Prakash and Brothers at Rs 124.7 crore.
The auditor has found that the consultant selection was arbitrary and non-transparent. It observed that six packages were assigned to consultants simply on the basis of financial quotations and negation with two consultants without specifying the technical works done.
The report also points out that the streetscaping works were awarded at per km costs ranging from Rs 3.63 crore to Rs 9.75 crore with an average cost of Rs 5.32 crore. Moreover, the adoption of richer specifications and higher rates resulted in mismanagement and loss of Rs 59.6 crores.
The CAG has observed that the works awarded in arbitrary manner "confirm wasted public funds totaling Rs 101.02 crore".
The estimated cost was Rs 209.14 crore while the value of the tender was Rs 242.01 crore. The department justified the cost at Rs 254.86 crore.
NEW DELHI: The judicial custody of sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and his other associates, arrested for their alleged roles in irregular award of the Games-related contracts, was extended today till September 22 by a Delhi court.
Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh extended the judicial custody of Kalmadi and others, including former OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot, as they appeared before the court after expiry of their custody stint in Tihar Jail.
The court also directed various counsel, appearing for the accused, as well as the prosecution to complete the scrutiny of documents by October 20 so that the trial does not get delayed.
"Complete the scrutiny of documents by October 20 because I do not want to hear excuses like there were Dussehra holidays and all," the judge said.
The court also granted more time to all the accused to respond to CBI's plea seeking separation of trial of Swiss Timing Omega, the firm which was awarded the contract to install the Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) for the 2010 mega sporting event.
Others whose judicial custody were extended included OC's Director General V K Verma, Director General (Procurement) Surjit Lal, Joint Director General (sports) A S V Prasad, Treasurer M Jayachandran, Hyderabad businessmen A K Reddy, P D Arya and A K Madan, promoters of a Faridabad-based private company.
During the felicitation ceremony that had been arranged to honour the three Indian medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Kalmadi reportedly walked out because he had not been offered a chair next to the Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari. In January 2010, former Indian hockey captain Pargat Singh accused Kalmadi of being part of a 'sports mafia'.
Kalmadi's conduct around the 2010 Commonwealth Games has come under scrutiny, with the Chief Vigilance Commission (India's anti-corruption organisation) asking the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe certain aspects of the games' organization. For this, the opposition demanded Kalmadi's resignation. However, Suresh Kalmadi continues to deny corruption charges.
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