₹600 Crore Scam in JVVNL: Serious allegations have been leveled against the top Congress leaders who were in the government earlier, documents obtained from RTI show that the government treasury has been defrauded of crores of rupees. The names of former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress State President Govind Singh Dotasara have surfaced in this alleged scam. In this game played in the Electricity Department before the assembly elections, government funds worth more than Rs 600 crore were misused by bypassing the rules.
This scam came to light when Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam (JVVNL) issued big tenders for the construction of sub-stations in August 2023. In this process, keeping all the rules aside, the contract was given to a favorite firm, so that black money could be arranged for the elections. When Jaipur’s RTI activist Ashok Pathak collected documents under the Right to Information (RTI) to get to the bottom of the matter (all documents are attached), then this ‘mega scam’ was exposed. Let’s know the inside story of this whole matter.
Table of Contents
How did the scam happen?
Collusion of Gehlot-Dotasara
The whole matter started when Engineer R.N. Kumawat, who was chargesheeted in 2017 and retired in July 2018, was again appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam by the Gehlot government in February 2023. This appointment was made in collusion between Gehlot and Dotasara so that crores of rupees could be raised for the assembly elections.
Questionable tender process
On August 21, 2023, Jaipur Discom issued two big tenders (numbers 545 and 546). Of these, tender number 545 was to install 20 GSS (33/11 kV substations) in Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts. At the same time, in tender number 546, 22 GSS were to be installed in Jaipur, Kota and other districts. The total value of these tenders was Rs 164 crore.
Favorite firm benefits
On the instructions of Chief Minister Gehlot, Jaipur Discom officials flouted the rules and adopted several tactics to get the contract for their favourite firm M/s RC Enterprises, Jaipur. Even a pre-bid meeting was not organised in the tender process so that big companies could not participate in it. Not only this, a big tender was divided into two smaller tenders so that the favourite firm could not be left out.
The depth of the scandal
Only one firm got the chance
In this tender process, Jaipur Discom made a provision for depositing tender fee and processing fee offline. Only one firm got the opportunity to deposit the fee, due to which no other company could participate. The result was that only M/s RC Enterprises submitted the tender and the contract was given to it.
The matter was resolved within an hour
Even the technical and financial process of the tender was completed in just one hour. In tender number 545 and 546, the technical process started at 1:58 pm and 2:00 pm respectively and the financial process was also completed at 3:31 pm. This entire game was completed so quickly that no one even got a whiff of it.
Over 350 percent of the price
The most shocking thing was that this tender was given at a price 350 percent higher than the tender value. The total value of tender number 545 was Rs 75 crore 82 lakh, but the contract was given to M/s RC Enterprises for Rs 282 crore 53 lakh. Whereas, the value of tender number 546 was Rs 88 crore, but it was given for Rs 306 crore. In this way, the contractors were given this work at a price much higher than the market price.
How was the government revenue looted?
GSS reduced, cost increased
As soon as the government changed in the state, in the name of scrutiny of tenders, in tender number 545, where 20 GSS (33/11 kV substation) were to be built, 2 GSS were reduced to 18. Still, an additional cost of Rs 40 crore was added. Similarly, in tender number 546, 17 GSS were built instead of 22 GSS, but an additional Rs 10 crore was added. In this way, despite reducing a total of 7 GSS in February 2024, the cost of the contractor was increased by another Rs 50 crore.
Comparison of old tenders
In September 2023, Jaipur Discom issued another tender (number 544) for the construction of 20 similar GSSs, the value of which was Rs 56 crore. 10 companies participated in this tender and the work order was issued at the lowest rate in healthy competition. In comparison, in tender numbers 545 and 546 issued in September itself, a work order of Rs 618 crore was issued for 35 GSSs. The question arises here that when 20 GSSs could have been constructed for Rs 56 crore, then why Rs 618 crore was given for 35 GSSs?
Engineer R.N. Kumawat’s ‘Congress connection’
Became MD due to Gehlot’s grace
Three charge sheets were filed against Superintending Engineer R N Kumawat in 2017 and he retired in July 2018. As soon as Ashok Gehlot became the Chief Minister, he gave a clean chit to the chargesheeted engineer R N Kumawat and promoted him to the post of Chief Engineer 8 months after his retirement and got him all the financial benefits of the promotion. Chief Engineer R N Kumawat was appointed MD of Jaipur Discom by the Gehlot government in February 2023. The then Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot played an important role in his appointment.
Earlier, in June 2023, 6 firms had participated for tender number 542, but 5 of them were eliminated in the technical bid. The purpose of this was to benefit the favorite firm. The result was that the contract worth Rs 14 crore was given to the favorite firm M/s RC Enterprises, while its actual value was Rs 10 crore 80 lakh.
Work order even before CLPC meeting
The meeting of CLPC of Jaipur Discom was called on 9 October 2023 to approve the tender process, but surprisingly the work order was issued on 5 October itself. Immediately after this, the code of conduct for the assembly elections was imposed in Rajasthan. This clearly shows that this process was completed in a hurry before the elections.
See all the documents related to the scam here
In this regard, we tried our best to know the side of former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Congress State President Govind Singh Dotasara and former Managing Director of Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam R.N. Kumawat, but they could not be contacted.
If they want to say something in this context, their comments will also be included in this.
It is clear from this entire scam that crores of rupees were misused from the government treasury in Rajasthan. This case of giving contract to a favorite firm by bypassing the rules seems to be connected to a conspiracy to raise election funds. Now it remains to be seen whether any action is taken on this or this case also goes into cold storage like other scams.
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