FOCUS
NHAI & RELEVANCE OF SATYENDRA DUBEY
15 years ago on 27th November 2003, Satyendra Dubey, a Project Director with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was returning home past midnight after attending a wedding in Varanasi and asked his driver to come to Gaya railway station. Driver, due to alleged malfunction of the car battery failed to come and Satyendra Dubey hailed a rickshaw and was reportedly waylaid by robbers who shot him dead. But nobody checked the veracity of battery malfunction!
The life of a promising, highly qualified and upright professional youth of only 30 years, on 27th November 2003, was brutally cut short, for having worked honestly for his country. And the CBI, closed the file as a case of robbery.
The public response to Dubey’s murder was immediate and widespread. The chairman of Transparency International has reportedly praised him saying “His death is a testimony to his idealism and source of inspiration to the people against the evil of corruption”.
Satyendra Dubey, a B. Tech from IIT Kanpur and an M. Tech from IIT Banaras Hindu University is a gem of unparalleled brilliance. But how many of us, we Indians, the newspaper reading literate remember him? Born to Bageshwari Dubey and Phulmati Devi in Sahpur village in the Siwan district of Bihar on 27th November 1973, Satyendra was a senior employee with the government of India. He was a brilliant student from his school days, topping the state, both in 10th and 12th. On completing B. Tech in 1994 and M. Tech 1996 in Civil Engineering, he joined Indian Engineering Services (IES) in July 2002 and was deputed to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). He became Project Director for a part of Golden Quadrilateral Corridor Project, (GQCP) passing through Jharkhand. GQCP was a dream project of the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was meant to connect most major cities across India with some 14000 km length and a budget provision of some 10 billion US $.
NHAI was created through the promulgation of the National Highways Authority of India Act 1988. The act states that the function of NHAI is to develop, maintain and manage national highways and any other highways vested in, or entrusted to it by the govt of India.
Obviously all infrastructural projects involving NHAI always ran into lakhs of crores of rupees. Hence, all kinds of people trying for a pie of this huge allocation is only to be expected. But then this crowd also had groups and individuals with mafia link. In a place like Jharkhand, which was earlier part of Bihar, mafia presence was very much a fact of life. And mafia could always be found, like bees around the flower, where possibility of making easy money and in bigger amounts are ever present. That was the challenge young Satyendra Dubey had to live with and even fight with. Here it is very pertinent to remember that the notorious don RJD Member of Parliament Mohammad Shahabuddin was elected 4 times as MP, is also from the same district of Siwan.
Satyendra Dubey, having been born in the state of Bihar, in its Siwan district, where lawlessness was a part of life, had his values intact. That’s how, despite being selected for Civil Service Examination in 1997- (Rank 258), and again in 1999 (Rank 198) decided to continue his employment with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. He was a deeply committed man, wanting to protect each rupee of the huge fund that NHAI would spend in the construction of GQCP. No wonder soon after joining NHAI he got the contractor of the project under his management, to suspend three of his engineers after exposing serious financial irregularities. At one point, he had the contractor rebuild six kilometers of bad quality road. This indeed cost the contractor a huge loss, and no contractor, in search of quick money, would take it lying down.
GQCP projects had strict controls to ensure that construction work would be carried on by experienced firms with proper systems. In the process of supervision, it is alleged that, Satyendra discovered that the contracted firm L&T, had sub-contracted the actual work to smaller, low-technology firms controlled by local mafia. And the whole lot of knowledgeable Indians are in the know that L&T is a blue chip company, with interest across the trade and industry spectrum, managed by highly skilled and competent senior professional managers. They have not only notched up huge financial bottom lines in all their activities, they were also awarded for managerial competence. A recent advertisement they had put in the print media said it all. They were the main contractors for the STATUE OF UNITY dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31st October 2018, where they claimed it to be the “TALLEST FASTEST STRONGEST” in big bold letters, while adding “The Statue of Unity-in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of India-is a colossus in every respect. Built in a mere 33 months, it towers 182 meters above the shimmering waters of the Narmada River. Creating benchmarks is a way of life at L&T. but its not every day that you get a chance to build the world’s tallest statue-and then do it in record-breaking time. The opportunity presented by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd to collaboratively convert our Honourable Prime Minister’s grand vision into reality, came with its own set of unique construction challenges. The innovative solutions we applied to overcome them will inevitably find their way into the engineering text books of tomorrow. Today, we salute the spirit of unity, as we pledge ourselves once again to making the things that make India proud”.
Yes, it was indeed a dream project of Prime Minister Modi, and he apparently gave lot of importance for its socio-political spin off. Therefore L&T as the main contractor took it very seriously to claim it as the ‘Strongest & Fastest’. The same seriousness if they had given to GQCP, may be things could have been different. No wonder the under belly of this huge success had its shades of darkness like this wholesale sub-contracting of a prestigious project like GQCP. Our bought up media had no time for the darker side of such successful enterprises.
Disappointed at the alleged professional compromise by L&T, Satyendra wrote to his superiors, his immediate senior Brij Satish Kapoor and kept NHAI director, SK Soni informed. But allegedly no reaction came from both of them. Instead, he was transferred to Gaya despite his request not to transfer, since he felt it would hurt the interest of NHAI.
At Gaya, he found, things were just as bad. It was in August 2003. While in Gaya reportedly he exposed flouting of NHAI rules on a massive scale, regarding sub-contracting and quality control. In the meanwhile he was upgraded which made him eligible to be a Project Director. Since Gaya did not have a position of Project Director, posting back to Koderma, his earlier place of posting, became possible. But there appeared to be vested interest not wanting him as Project Director. The professional in him did not allow him to take things easy without acting on it. Since his bosses in NHAI had kept quiet on his complaints, he believed that it was his duty and responsibility to bring the issue of corruption to the attention of higher authorities, for the good of India. Thus he decided to write a letter directly to the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, reportedly detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the project. He kept the letter unsigned and kept a separate bio-data for the personal information of the Prime Minister. Quote,
To The Prime Minister, Republic of India,
Prime Minister’s Office New Delhi - 110 001
Sub: National Highways Development Project (Golden Quadrilateral and North-South, East-West Corridors)
A dream project of unparalleled importance to the Nation but in reality a great loot of public money because of very poor implementation at every stage.
Hon’ble Sir,
Through this letter, I wish to draw your kind attention towards great lapse in the implementation of above project. Since such letters from a common man are not usually treated with due seriousness, I wish to clarify at the outset that this letter is being written after careful thought by a very concerned citizen of the country who is also very closely linked with the project. I request you to kindly go through my brief particulars (attached on a separate sheet to ensure secrecy) before proceeding further.
Instead of writing at length, I would be very specific and to the point, highlighting the areas where there have been great lapses and would suggest certain remedies to the best of my abilities. I have been posted both at NHAI, HQ and at site on NH-2 Projects and therefore my direct experience is with NH-2 Projects (World Bank Funded). However, the story is almost same with all other projects which are under implementation and would be no different for forthcoming Projects unless we take certain corrective measures immediately. I have gone through most of the files (even closed ones) dealing with NH-2 projects (their design consultancy, procurement of civil contractors, selection of supervision consultants, the mobilisation of contractors and consultants, etc.). The areas of concern are highlighted below:
PREPARATION OF DETAIL PROJECT REPORTS (DPRS) BY THE DESIGN CONSULTANTS
The DPRs prepared by the design consultants are in very poor shape and cannot be implemented in the field without major modifications. It appears that the design consultants have made the designs and drawings with little consideration for the actual ground conditions and the same have been accepted by NHAI without any scrutiny. The proof consultants (deployed for checking DPRs submitted by Design Consultants) appear to have done only cosmetic work and it appears that the officers in NHAI have not even opened the final DPRs submitted by the consultants before putting the works to tender. The result is that the DPRs, on the basis of which tenders have been called, are like garbage. When the problems are being noticed in DPR at the implementation stage and the design consultants are being requested to clarify them, we are getting a very cool and negative response from them. This is contributing to delay in the implementation of projects.
A good DPR is one of the foremost requirements for the smooth implementation of the Project and we are faltering at the very initial stage. In the present system there appears to be no accountability on the part of Design Consultant. To ensure this, we should evolve a system whereby the design consultant can be made accountable for any problem in the implementation of DPR and their consequent implications in terms of time and cost overruns. A system of insurance may be devised to address this issue. The Design Consultant may be asked to keep his establishment at site in the initial stage of implementation of project, so that any design issue may be addressed speedily. Alternatively, we may link substantial portion of payment of Design consultants to the implementation of DPR in the field. Another way may be to award design consultancy (for preparation of DPR) and supervision consultancy (to supervise the execution of project) to the same consultancy firm so that any discrepancy noticed in DPR at the execution stage is corrected by the same firm. We may deliberate further to arrive at the most suitable option.
PROCUREMENT OF CIVIL CONTRACTORS
The process of procurement appears to have been completely manipulated and hijacked by the big contractors. Many contractors are submitting forged documents to justify their technical and financial capabilities to execute the project. The big contractors have been able to get all sorts of help (including even the most secret information and documents) from the officials in NHAI and even the note sheets carrying approval of chairman have been leaked outside. (This mostly appears to have been done by lower officials and supporting staff). Little thought has been given to the ability & sincerity of some of the contractors to do the work they have quoted for. The three striking examples are awards of NH-2 to M/s Centrodorstoy of Russia, M/s China Coal of China and M/s LG of South Korea which are all working like commission agents by collaborating with local incompetent and inexperienced firms and trying to get the work done through them. M/s Progressive Constructions Ltd is another contractor which appears to have completely manipulated the system to get the award of 2 projects on NH-2. This company is not organised on professional lines and it is run like a family business. They get one work and assign it to one relative, the second is assigned to another and the story goes on.
There is an urgent need to have a fresh look at the whole procurement process and utmost care needs to be exercised at the time of selection of contractors. The whole process should be made more transparent and any official found colluding with the contractors should be severely punished.
MOBILISATION OF CONTRACTORS AND MOBILISATION ADVANCE TO THEM
NHAI officials have shown great hurry in giving mobilisation advance to the selected contractors (no surprise, as the commission to officials for award of work are linked to the contractors getting their first mobilisation advance). In some cases the contractors have been given mobilisation advance just a day after signing the Contract Agreement. The entire mobilisation advance of 10 per cent of contract value (which goes up to Rs 40 crores in certain cases) has been paid to the contractors within a few weeks of award of work but there has been little follow-up to ensure that they are actually mobilised at site with the same pace. The result is that the entire mobilisation advance remains lying with contractors (or get diverted in their other activities) for months — a way for contractors to make easy money and for client to loose interest charges on them. Most of the contractors have not mobilised even up to 50 per cent, a year after getting their mobilisation advances.
Similar diversion or idling of funds are taking place in case of equipment advances to the contractors, another 10 per cent of the contract value. In many cases, the equipment is not being purchased and, even if purchased, is being used somewhere else. The contractors are getting customs and excise duty exemptions on most of the road construction equipment. However, because of laxity on the part of NHAI, the contractors in many cases are buying equipment on behalf of or for other parties and appropriating a portion of the excise/custom duty exemptions in their pocket.
We need to be vigilant and careful in giving advances to the contractors. The advances are given to the contractors to mobilise them quickly in the interest of project and therefore the same should be linked to their actual mobilisation at site. The advances should be given in installments and the release of next installment should be made dependent on utilisation of the previous installment. A strict vigil and audit needs to be done to ensure that the advances are used by contractors for quick mobilisation and are utilised in the same project for which they are being given.
SELECTION OF SUPERVISION CONSULTANTS AND DESIGN CONSULTANTS
The concept of supervision consultancy is a step in very right direction and the amount spent on them (roughly 2-3% of the cost of civil works) is a good investment. But here again we are faltering at the implementation stage.
There is a big fraud in the selection of Supervision/Design consultants which mainly depends on their technical manpower. To get the consultancy work, the consultants are proposing to deploy well-qualified and senior professionals in their technical proposals (many times their qualification and experience are being forged and NHAI officials are not taking any pain to ask for the documentary proof in support of their claims).
Many a times, the same professional figures simultaneously in technical proposals forwarded by many consultants and NHAI officials are doing little to discourage it. However, once that work is awarded to them, they are invariably coming with the request for replacement of their proposed personnel with professionals of much less qualification & experience.
To our shame, we in NHAI are giving least resistance to this trend and the proposals for replacement of professionals are being approved freely. The curriculum vitae of professionals are invariably being fabricated and manipulated by consultants to get approval, as the NHAI officials are not asking for any documentary proof in support of the qualification & experience claimed. Instead they are abetting this crime.
The consultants in first instance come with the replacement CV to have an informal discussion with the officials. However, once they are given the feeling that the same can’t be approved on file, the CV of same man is properly fabricated (in connivance with NHAI officials) and submitted formally and the approval is granted. This is the state of affairs.
The end result is that the consultants propose to deploy the most qualified, experienced and senior men in their organisation (or outside their organisation) to get the work and, once awarded the work, replace them by much inferior persons. They propose the same senior team to get another work and repeat the same story of replacement and the drama goes on.
This way, the consultants are completely manipulating the system. The well-qualified persons in head offices of consultancy firms are thus being used simply to get the work, but they are not being sent to the site, where they are being proposed to be deployed. The field units of these consultancy firms are instead being asked by their Head offices to look for the required personnel. The result is that many key professional posts are lying vacant for months or are being filled by unqualified person. In all these, it is the project which ultimately suffers.
This whole drama can be very easily checked provided we have the will. It is all the more easy in the totally computerised system at NHAI. A few steps outlined below will go a long way in remedying this ill.
(i) No consultant should be allowed to propose the deployment of same professional in more than one technical proposal.(ii) It should be ensured that the same person is not proposed to be deployed by more than one consultancy firm.(iii) It should be ensured that the person proposed by a consultancy firm is actually working in the firm or is having a bond with the firm to work in the project if the firm is awarded the project.(iv) Replacement should be approved only under very extraordinary circumstances and a penalty should be imposed on the firm for their inability to deploy the proposed professional.(v) All documentary proof in support of the qualification & experience claimed by a person should be asked.
In summary, it should be ensured that the supervision consultants deploys a well-qualified & experienced team for proper supervision of the work. This becomes all the more important, because the supervision consultant (known as Engineer in FIDIC contract document) has been given immense powers & responsibilities under FIDIC conditions of contract which we are following.
THE PROBLEM OF SUBLETTING OR SUBCONTRACTING
The NHAI is going for International Competitive Bidding to procure the most competent Civil Contractor for execution of its projects. The works are usually being awarded at high cost and the contractors are assuring the best quality in the execution of projects. However, when it comes to the actual execution of works, it is found that most of the works (sometimes even up to 100 per cent) are being sublet or subcontracted to small petty contractors who are not at all capable to execute such big projects and ensure the quality of construction assured by the Civil Contractors. As a result, the entire process of shortlisting & pre-qualification of contractors and International Competitive Bidding are being nullified and what we are getting are the numerous petty contractors working at site and making a mockery of the prestigious project. The main Civil Contractors who have been awarded the work by NHAI are doing all these under the veil of labour contract which is permissible under the Contract Agreement. But in reality, they are getting most of the work done through numerous small petty contractors (main contractors are supplying only a few critical equipment & materials) at 50-60 per cent of the price quoted by them and the rest 40 per cent of contract price is being pocketed by them without much effort. In the process, the main contractors are working just like commission agents.
I would like to mention here that the above phenomena of subletting and subcontracting is known to all from top to bottom but everyone is maintaining a studied silence. It would not be inappropriate to say that all these mouths have been shut by these big contractors who are manipulating the system and individuals alike. These petty contractors are bringing poor equipment & material, giving a big setback to the progress & quality of work. The main contractors are least bothered about the timely completion of projects (and penalties, if they are unable to finish the work in time) as they are quite sure of getting time extension by manipulating the individuals. They have already started fabricating spurious claims to make grounds for time extension and cost overruns. If this issue of subcontracting is not taken up with urgency, the entire project will be a very big failure both in terms of quality of construction and timely completion.
This issue cannot be expected to be tackled by field units of NHAI as the decision to sublet the works are being taken by Head offices of the contractors & not their field units. To address this, the top administration in NHAI has to take up the matter aggressively with the top management of contractors.
NHAI ORGANISATION & OFFICE SYSTEM
It would not be inappropriate to say that there is no system in NHAI, there are only individuals. There is an urgent need to review and restructure the office procedure and office set up including the file system. Record keeping is very poor and it would be difficult to trace even the most important papers after some time.
The entire organisation is almost based on sourcing people on deputation basis. There is a need to have some permanent cadre strength in NHAI. In its zeal to maintain a lean and thin organisation, one Accounts officer/Manager (Finance) is allotted to two Project Implementation Units spaced around 200-300 kms apart, which is a mere nonsense. There is an immediate need to deploy one Accounts Officer/Manager (Finance) in each PIU, which have to manage projects of around Rs.1,000 crores.
The earlier we take up these issues, the better it is for the health of NHAI. If some well-planned measures are not taken soon, the NHAI as a system is headed for big failure.
As a concerned citizen of the country, I have brought these issues to your notice for your kind intervention and necessary action. Looking at the enormity of public fund involved in the project, the matter needs your urgent attention.
I have written all these in my individual capacity. However, I will keep on addressing these issues in my official capacity in the limited domain within the powers delegated to me. If any elaboration/clarification is needed on above issues I would be glad to render all my assistance in the interest of this very prestigious National Highways Development Project, which is undoubtedly the biggest ever project undertaken in India after independence.
Thanking you,Your sincerely,
(For personal particulars please refer to the separate sheet)
Having read the unsigned letter and seeing the separate bio-data of the sender Satyendra Dubey, what does our honorable poet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee does? Surely he knew the seriousness of the contents of the letter so also the sensitivity of the issues involved where Dubey accused his seniors in NHAI, in keeping his identity concealed only for the eyes, knowledge and wisdom of the Prime Minister of India.
In the event, without blinking for a moment he passes the letter and the personal details of Satyendra Dubey, to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways without even for a second realizing that he, the PM has put the neck of the complainant, a whistleblower, an honest, upright and highly qualified professional on the guillotine.
Yes, an unpardonable blunder was committed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in passing on the personal details of this crusading young officer of NHAI, thereby exposing him to mafia hyenas in both the NHAI and contract mafias. A moment of thoughtless flourish of the Prime Minister in wanting the department concerned to act, he slipped so very gravely that young Satyendra Dubey had to end-up making the supreme sacrifice. Atal Bihari Vajpayee can be accused of dereliction of duty incumbent upon him as the Chief Executive of the country. Dubey who probably wanted to die on a national alter as a hero, died so cheaply, and the court passed the verdict ‘killed while fighting petty roadside robbers’. All, from NHAI to CBI down to police, all joined the chorus to save the mafia and Satyendra died so evocatively unsung. What a tragedy!
Prime Minister, whether he understood the gravity of his mistake, a blunder, he did not consider Satyendra Dubey for bravery or any such award in his memory, so that his legacy can be kept alive. Neither any government that followed, even thought of making a hero of Satyendra Dubey.
But the fact is Satyendra Dubey maraa nahee, Satyendra Dubey marthey nahee. His friends have kept him alive with his memorial services, in awards for bravery etc. Indeed the soul of Satyendra Dubey should live to transcend the national amnesia of such rare personalities, who rarely walk upon this earth.
Probably Satyendra Dubey would have lived to serve the nation, if his superiors in NHAI, Brij Satish Kapoor and the then NHAI Director SK Soni had acted on his complaints. But sadly even after his supreme sacrifice, NHAI was never investigated. There is no known CAG report or CVC observations. May be NHAI is a cow available to milk, by every government to fill the party coffers and for the benefit of some powerful politicians. So the story of NHAI mismanagement is an ongoing affair. Governments may come and governments may go, but loot of national resources through NHAI shall go on. So, how do we fix the ever eroding finances of the country, where poor continues to either remain poor or slip further down to become poorer and rich & powerful grow richer and more powerful and Satyendra Dubeys are getting pushed to the margins looking helplessly trying to delay the inevitable!
15 years ago on 27th November 2003, Satyendra Dubey, a Project Director with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was returning home past midnight after attending a wedding in Varanasi and asked his driver to come to Gaya railway station. Driver, due to alleged malfunction of the car battery failed to come and Satyendra Dubey hailed a rickshaw and was reportedly waylaid by robbers who shot him dead. But nobody checked the veracity of battery malfunction!
The life of a promising, highly qualified and upright professional youth of only 30 years, on 27th November 2003, was brutally cut short, for having worked honestly for his country. And the CBI, closed the file as a case of robbery.
The public response to Dubey’s murder was immediate and widespread. The chairman of Transparency International has reportedly praised him saying “His death is a testimony to his idealism and source of inspiration to the people against the evil of corruption”.
Satyendra Dubey, a B. Tech from IIT Kanpur and an M. Tech from IIT Banaras Hindu University is a gem of unparalleled brilliance. But how many of us, we Indians, the newspaper reading literate remember him? Born to Bageshwari Dubey and Phulmati Devi in Sahpur village in the Siwan district of Bihar on 27th November 1973, Satyendra was a senior employee with the government of India. He was a brilliant student from his school days, topping the state, both in 10th and 12th. On completing B. Tech in 1994 and M. Tech 1996 in Civil Engineering, he joined Indian Engineering Services (IES) in July 2002 and was deputed to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). He became Project Director for a part of Golden Quadrilateral Corridor Project, (GQCP) passing through Jharkhand. GQCP was a dream project of the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was meant to connect most major cities across India with some 14000 km length and a budget provision of some 10 billion US $.
NHAI was created through the promulgation of the National Highways Authority of India Act 1988. The act states that the function of NHAI is to develop, maintain and manage national highways and any other highways vested in, or entrusted to it by the govt of India.
Obviously all infrastructural projects involving NHAI always ran into lakhs of crores of rupees. Hence, all kinds of people trying for a pie of this huge allocation is only to be expected. But then this crowd also had groups and individuals with mafia link. In a place like Jharkhand, which was earlier part of Bihar, mafia presence was very much a fact of life. And mafia could always be found, like bees around the flower, where possibility of making easy money and in bigger amounts are ever present. That was the challenge young Satyendra Dubey had to live with and even fight with. Here it is very pertinent to remember that the notorious don RJD Member of Parliament Mohammad Shahabuddin was elected 4 times as MP, is also from the same district of Siwan.
Satyendra Dubey, having been born in the state of Bihar, in its Siwan district, where lawlessness was a part of life, had his values intact. That’s how, despite being selected for Civil Service Examination in 1997- (Rank 258), and again in 1999 (Rank 198) decided to continue his employment with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. He was a deeply committed man, wanting to protect each rupee of the huge fund that NHAI would spend in the construction of GQCP. No wonder soon after joining NHAI he got the contractor of the project under his management, to suspend three of his engineers after exposing serious financial irregularities. At one point, he had the contractor rebuild six kilometers of bad quality road. This indeed cost the contractor a huge loss, and no contractor, in search of quick money, would take it lying down.
GQCP projects had strict controls to ensure that construction work would be carried on by experienced firms with proper systems. In the process of supervision, it is alleged that, Satyendra discovered that the contracted firm L&T, had sub-contracted the actual work to smaller, low-technology firms controlled by local mafia. And the whole lot of knowledgeable Indians are in the know that L&T is a blue chip company, with interest across the trade and industry spectrum, managed by highly skilled and competent senior professional managers. They have not only notched up huge financial bottom lines in all their activities, they were also awarded for managerial competence. A recent advertisement they had put in the print media said it all. They were the main contractors for the STATUE OF UNITY dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31st October 2018, where they claimed it to be the “TALLEST FASTEST STRONGEST” in big bold letters, while adding “The Statue of Unity-in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of India-is a colossus in every respect. Built in a mere 33 months, it towers 182 meters above the shimmering waters of the Narmada River. Creating benchmarks is a way of life at L&T. but its not every day that you get a chance to build the world’s tallest statue-and then do it in record-breaking time. The opportunity presented by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd to collaboratively convert our Honourable Prime Minister’s grand vision into reality, came with its own set of unique construction challenges. The innovative solutions we applied to overcome them will inevitably find their way into the engineering text books of tomorrow. Today, we salute the spirit of unity, as we pledge ourselves once again to making the things that make India proud”.
Yes, it was indeed a dream project of Prime Minister Modi, and he apparently gave lot of importance for its socio-political spin off. Therefore L&T as the main contractor took it very seriously to claim it as the ‘Strongest & Fastest’. The same seriousness if they had given to GQCP, may be things could have been different. No wonder the under belly of this huge success had its shades of darkness like this wholesale sub-contracting of a prestigious project like GQCP. Our bought up media had no time for the darker side of such successful enterprises.
Disappointed at the alleged professional compromise by L&T, Satyendra wrote to his superiors, his immediate senior Brij Satish Kapoor and kept NHAI director, SK Soni informed. But allegedly no reaction came from both of them. Instead, he was transferred to Gaya despite his request not to transfer, since he felt it would hurt the interest of NHAI.
At Gaya, he found, things were just as bad. It was in August 2003. While in Gaya reportedly he exposed flouting of NHAI rules on a massive scale, regarding sub-contracting and quality control. In the meanwhile he was upgraded which made him eligible to be a Project Director. Since Gaya did not have a position of Project Director, posting back to Koderma, his earlier place of posting, became possible. But there appeared to be vested interest not wanting him as Project Director. The professional in him did not allow him to take things easy without acting on it. Since his bosses in NHAI had kept quiet on his complaints, he believed that it was his duty and responsibility to bring the issue of corruption to the attention of higher authorities, for the good of India. Thus he decided to write a letter directly to the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, reportedly detailing the financial and contractual irregularities in the project. He kept the letter unsigned and kept a separate bio-data for the personal information of the Prime Minister. Quote,
To The Prime Minister, Republic of India,
Prime Minister’s Office New Delhi - 110 001
Sub: National Highways Development Project (Golden Quadrilateral and North-South, East-West Corridors)
A dream project of unparalleled importance to the Nation but in reality a great loot of public money because of very poor implementation at every stage.
Hon’ble Sir,
Through this letter, I wish to draw your kind attention towards great lapse in the implementation of above project. Since such letters from a common man are not usually treated with due seriousness, I wish to clarify at the outset that this letter is being written after careful thought by a very concerned citizen of the country who is also very closely linked with the project. I request you to kindly go through my brief particulars (attached on a separate sheet to ensure secrecy) before proceeding further.
Instead of writing at length, I would be very specific and to the point, highlighting the areas where there have been great lapses and would suggest certain remedies to the best of my abilities. I have been posted both at NHAI, HQ and at site on NH-2 Projects and therefore my direct experience is with NH-2 Projects (World Bank Funded). However, the story is almost same with all other projects which are under implementation and would be no different for forthcoming Projects unless we take certain corrective measures immediately. I have gone through most of the files (even closed ones) dealing with NH-2 projects (their design consultancy, procurement of civil contractors, selection of supervision consultants, the mobilisation of contractors and consultants, etc.). The areas of concern are highlighted below:
PREPARATION OF DETAIL PROJECT REPORTS (DPRS) BY THE DESIGN CONSULTANTS
The DPRs prepared by the design consultants are in very poor shape and cannot be implemented in the field without major modifications. It appears that the design consultants have made the designs and drawings with little consideration for the actual ground conditions and the same have been accepted by NHAI without any scrutiny. The proof consultants (deployed for checking DPRs submitted by Design Consultants) appear to have done only cosmetic work and it appears that the officers in NHAI have not even opened the final DPRs submitted by the consultants before putting the works to tender. The result is that the DPRs, on the basis of which tenders have been called, are like garbage. When the problems are being noticed in DPR at the implementation stage and the design consultants are being requested to clarify them, we are getting a very cool and negative response from them. This is contributing to delay in the implementation of projects.
A good DPR is one of the foremost requirements for the smooth implementation of the Project and we are faltering at the very initial stage. In the present system there appears to be no accountability on the part of Design Consultant. To ensure this, we should evolve a system whereby the design consultant can be made accountable for any problem in the implementation of DPR and their consequent implications in terms of time and cost overruns. A system of insurance may be devised to address this issue. The Design Consultant may be asked to keep his establishment at site in the initial stage of implementation of project, so that any design issue may be addressed speedily. Alternatively, we may link substantial portion of payment of Design consultants to the implementation of DPR in the field. Another way may be to award design consultancy (for preparation of DPR) and supervision consultancy (to supervise the execution of project) to the same consultancy firm so that any discrepancy noticed in DPR at the execution stage is corrected by the same firm. We may deliberate further to arrive at the most suitable option.
PROCUREMENT OF CIVIL CONTRACTORS
The process of procurement appears to have been completely manipulated and hijacked by the big contractors. Many contractors are submitting forged documents to justify their technical and financial capabilities to execute the project. The big contractors have been able to get all sorts of help (including even the most secret information and documents) from the officials in NHAI and even the note sheets carrying approval of chairman have been leaked outside. (This mostly appears to have been done by lower officials and supporting staff). Little thought has been given to the ability & sincerity of some of the contractors to do the work they have quoted for. The three striking examples are awards of NH-2 to M/s Centrodorstoy of Russia, M/s China Coal of China and M/s LG of South Korea which are all working like commission agents by collaborating with local incompetent and inexperienced firms and trying to get the work done through them. M/s Progressive Constructions Ltd is another contractor which appears to have completely manipulated the system to get the award of 2 projects on NH-2. This company is not organised on professional lines and it is run like a family business. They get one work and assign it to one relative, the second is assigned to another and the story goes on.
There is an urgent need to have a fresh look at the whole procurement process and utmost care needs to be exercised at the time of selection of contractors. The whole process should be made more transparent and any official found colluding with the contractors should be severely punished.
MOBILISATION OF CONTRACTORS AND MOBILISATION ADVANCE TO THEM
NHAI officials have shown great hurry in giving mobilisation advance to the selected contractors (no surprise, as the commission to officials for award of work are linked to the contractors getting their first mobilisation advance). In some cases the contractors have been given mobilisation advance just a day after signing the Contract Agreement. The entire mobilisation advance of 10 per cent of contract value (which goes up to Rs 40 crores in certain cases) has been paid to the contractors within a few weeks of award of work but there has been little follow-up to ensure that they are actually mobilised at site with the same pace. The result is that the entire mobilisation advance remains lying with contractors (or get diverted in their other activities) for months — a way for contractors to make easy money and for client to loose interest charges on them. Most of the contractors have not mobilised even up to 50 per cent, a year after getting their mobilisation advances.
Similar diversion or idling of funds are taking place in case of equipment advances to the contractors, another 10 per cent of the contract value. In many cases, the equipment is not being purchased and, even if purchased, is being used somewhere else. The contractors are getting customs and excise duty exemptions on most of the road construction equipment. However, because of laxity on the part of NHAI, the contractors in many cases are buying equipment on behalf of or for other parties and appropriating a portion of the excise/custom duty exemptions in their pocket.
We need to be vigilant and careful in giving advances to the contractors. The advances are given to the contractors to mobilise them quickly in the interest of project and therefore the same should be linked to their actual mobilisation at site. The advances should be given in installments and the release of next installment should be made dependent on utilisation of the previous installment. A strict vigil and audit needs to be done to ensure that the advances are used by contractors for quick mobilisation and are utilised in the same project for which they are being given.
SELECTION OF SUPERVISION CONSULTANTS AND DESIGN CONSULTANTS
The concept of supervision consultancy is a step in very right direction and the amount spent on them (roughly 2-3% of the cost of civil works) is a good investment. But here again we are faltering at the implementation stage.
There is a big fraud in the selection of Supervision/Design consultants which mainly depends on their technical manpower. To get the consultancy work, the consultants are proposing to deploy well-qualified and senior professionals in their technical proposals (many times their qualification and experience are being forged and NHAI officials are not taking any pain to ask for the documentary proof in support of their claims).
Many a times, the same professional figures simultaneously in technical proposals forwarded by many consultants and NHAI officials are doing little to discourage it. However, once that work is awarded to them, they are invariably coming with the request for replacement of their proposed personnel with professionals of much less qualification & experience.
To our shame, we in NHAI are giving least resistance to this trend and the proposals for replacement of professionals are being approved freely. The curriculum vitae of professionals are invariably being fabricated and manipulated by consultants to get approval, as the NHAI officials are not asking for any documentary proof in support of the qualification & experience claimed. Instead they are abetting this crime.
The consultants in first instance come with the replacement CV to have an informal discussion with the officials. However, once they are given the feeling that the same can’t be approved on file, the CV of same man is properly fabricated (in connivance with NHAI officials) and submitted formally and the approval is granted. This is the state of affairs.
The end result is that the consultants propose to deploy the most qualified, experienced and senior men in their organisation (or outside their organisation) to get the work and, once awarded the work, replace them by much inferior persons. They propose the same senior team to get another work and repeat the same story of replacement and the drama goes on.
This way, the consultants are completely manipulating the system. The well-qualified persons in head offices of consultancy firms are thus being used simply to get the work, but they are not being sent to the site, where they are being proposed to be deployed. The field units of these consultancy firms are instead being asked by their Head offices to look for the required personnel. The result is that many key professional posts are lying vacant for months or are being filled by unqualified person. In all these, it is the project which ultimately suffers.
This whole drama can be very easily checked provided we have the will. It is all the more easy in the totally computerised system at NHAI. A few steps outlined below will go a long way in remedying this ill.
(i) No consultant should be allowed to propose the deployment of same professional in more than one technical proposal.(ii) It should be ensured that the same person is not proposed to be deployed by more than one consultancy firm.(iii) It should be ensured that the person proposed by a consultancy firm is actually working in the firm or is having a bond with the firm to work in the project if the firm is awarded the project.(iv) Replacement should be approved only under very extraordinary circumstances and a penalty should be imposed on the firm for their inability to deploy the proposed professional.(v) All documentary proof in support of the qualification & experience claimed by a person should be asked.
In summary, it should be ensured that the supervision consultants deploys a well-qualified & experienced team for proper supervision of the work. This becomes all the more important, because the supervision consultant (known as Engineer in FIDIC contract document) has been given immense powers & responsibilities under FIDIC conditions of contract which we are following.
THE PROBLEM OF SUBLETTING OR SUBCONTRACTING
The NHAI is going for International Competitive Bidding to procure the most competent Civil Contractor for execution of its projects. The works are usually being awarded at high cost and the contractors are assuring the best quality in the execution of projects. However, when it comes to the actual execution of works, it is found that most of the works (sometimes even up to 100 per cent) are being sublet or subcontracted to small petty contractors who are not at all capable to execute such big projects and ensure the quality of construction assured by the Civil Contractors. As a result, the entire process of shortlisting & pre-qualification of contractors and International Competitive Bidding are being nullified and what we are getting are the numerous petty contractors working at site and making a mockery of the prestigious project. The main Civil Contractors who have been awarded the work by NHAI are doing all these under the veil of labour contract which is permissible under the Contract Agreement. But in reality, they are getting most of the work done through numerous small petty contractors (main contractors are supplying only a few critical equipment & materials) at 50-60 per cent of the price quoted by them and the rest 40 per cent of contract price is being pocketed by them without much effort. In the process, the main contractors are working just like commission agents.
I would like to mention here that the above phenomena of subletting and subcontracting is known to all from top to bottom but everyone is maintaining a studied silence. It would not be inappropriate to say that all these mouths have been shut by these big contractors who are manipulating the system and individuals alike. These petty contractors are bringing poor equipment & material, giving a big setback to the progress & quality of work. The main contractors are least bothered about the timely completion of projects (and penalties, if they are unable to finish the work in time) as they are quite sure of getting time extension by manipulating the individuals. They have already started fabricating spurious claims to make grounds for time extension and cost overruns. If this issue of subcontracting is not taken up with urgency, the entire project will be a very big failure both in terms of quality of construction and timely completion.
This issue cannot be expected to be tackled by field units of NHAI as the decision to sublet the works are being taken by Head offices of the contractors & not their field units. To address this, the top administration in NHAI has to take up the matter aggressively with the top management of contractors.
NHAI ORGANISATION & OFFICE SYSTEM
It would not be inappropriate to say that there is no system in NHAI, there are only individuals. There is an urgent need to review and restructure the office procedure and office set up including the file system. Record keeping is very poor and it would be difficult to trace even the most important papers after some time.
The entire organisation is almost based on sourcing people on deputation basis. There is a need to have some permanent cadre strength in NHAI. In its zeal to maintain a lean and thin organisation, one Accounts officer/Manager (Finance) is allotted to two Project Implementation Units spaced around 200-300 kms apart, which is a mere nonsense. There is an immediate need to deploy one Accounts Officer/Manager (Finance) in each PIU, which have to manage projects of around Rs.1,000 crores.
The earlier we take up these issues, the better it is for the health of NHAI. If some well-planned measures are not taken soon, the NHAI as a system is headed for big failure.
As a concerned citizen of the country, I have brought these issues to your notice for your kind intervention and necessary action. Looking at the enormity of public fund involved in the project, the matter needs your urgent attention.
I have written all these in my individual capacity. However, I will keep on addressing these issues in my official capacity in the limited domain within the powers delegated to me. If any elaboration/clarification is needed on above issues I would be glad to render all my assistance in the interest of this very prestigious National Highways Development Project, which is undoubtedly the biggest ever project undertaken in India after independence.
Thanking you,Your sincerely,
(For personal particulars please refer to the separate sheet)
Having read the unsigned letter and seeing the separate bio-data of the sender Satyendra Dubey, what does our honorable poet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee does? Surely he knew the seriousness of the contents of the letter so also the sensitivity of the issues involved where Dubey accused his seniors in NHAI, in keeping his identity concealed only for the eyes, knowledge and wisdom of the Prime Minister of India.
In the event, without blinking for a moment he passes the letter and the personal details of Satyendra Dubey, to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways without even for a second realizing that he, the PM has put the neck of the complainant, a whistleblower, an honest, upright and highly qualified professional on the guillotine.
Yes, an unpardonable blunder was committed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in passing on the personal details of this crusading young officer of NHAI, thereby exposing him to mafia hyenas in both the NHAI and contract mafias. A moment of thoughtless flourish of the Prime Minister in wanting the department concerned to act, he slipped so very gravely that young Satyendra Dubey had to end-up making the supreme sacrifice. Atal Bihari Vajpayee can be accused of dereliction of duty incumbent upon him as the Chief Executive of the country. Dubey who probably wanted to die on a national alter as a hero, died so cheaply, and the court passed the verdict ‘killed while fighting petty roadside robbers’. All, from NHAI to CBI down to police, all joined the chorus to save the mafia and Satyendra died so evocatively unsung. What a tragedy!
Prime Minister, whether he understood the gravity of his mistake, a blunder, he did not consider Satyendra Dubey for bravery or any such award in his memory, so that his legacy can be kept alive. Neither any government that followed, even thought of making a hero of Satyendra Dubey.
But the fact is Satyendra Dubey maraa nahee, Satyendra Dubey marthey nahee. His friends have kept him alive with his memorial services, in awards for bravery etc. Indeed the soul of Satyendra Dubey should live to transcend the national amnesia of such rare personalities, who rarely walk upon this earth.
Probably Satyendra Dubey would have lived to serve the nation, if his superiors in NHAI, Brij Satish Kapoor and the then NHAI Director SK Soni had acted on his complaints. But sadly even after his supreme sacrifice, NHAI was never investigated. There is no known CAG report or CVC observations. May be NHAI is a cow available to milk, by every government to fill the party coffers and for the benefit of some powerful politicians. So the story of NHAI mismanagement is an ongoing affair. Governments may come and governments may go, but loot of national resources through NHAI shall go on. So, how do we fix the ever eroding finances of the country, where poor continues to either remain poor or slip further down to become poorer and rich & powerful grow richer and more powerful and Satyendra Dubeys are getting pushed to the margins looking helplessly trying to delay the inevitable!
J. Shriyan
Comments