ACB to probe delay in Barapullah Ph-3

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena has ordered the AntiCorruption Branch (ACB) to investigate the decade-long delay, cost overruns and arbitration payments in the Barapullah Elevated Road (Phase III) project, officials said on Tuesday.

- Snehil Sinha

The decision follows the recommendation of chief minister Rekha Gupta and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), which flagged "complete absence of administrative oversight, managerial failure and criminal neglect" in the ₹1,260 crore project launched in 2015. Despite ten years having passed, officials said the project remains only 87% complete. "The cascading impact of lapses of various agencies resulted in arbitration proceedings, forcing the hand of Government to pay an additional ₹255 crores on account of an arbitration award which was accepted by the department ... I am in complete agreement with the recommendation of EFC that the matter be