Following a major irregularity in the acquisition of uniforms in the financial year 2024-25, officials said Uttrakhand Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, has ordered the suspension of a senior Home Guards officer and the establishment of a joint enquiry committee.
The case is that of the purchase of uniforms that were procured at a high price of about 3 crore when the original one was estimated to cost about 1 crore, which has cost the state exchequer a loss of about 2 crore. The anomalies were revealed on the day when the Director General of Home Guards, PVK Prasad observed that a new tender being floated to cover the financial year 2025 26 bore the same exaggerated rates. The DG suspected foul play and cancelled the tender at once to have a departmental investigation.
The investigation allegedly established that the Deputy Commandant General Amitabh Srivastava had conspired with a commercial contractor to rig the tendering process so that the procurement was made in the market at almost three times the current market price. According to the report, the DG proposed severe treatment of the officer, i.e. registration of a criminal case and compensation of the so-called 2 crore loss.
The officials indicated that the tendering process was set in a way that it favoured a specific contractor. In the occasions when the same rates were put forward once again, the DG came into the picture and stopped the process. Following the controversial situation, the department is currently examining a different approach to the provision of uniform allowance that will be applied to Home Guard personnel so that they can buy uniforms themselves.
Based on the recommendation of the DG, Chief Minister Dhami suspended the Deputy Commandant General at once and appointed a joint inquiry committee to continue the investigation. To echo the sentiments of the government, the chief minister asserted that Uttarakhand has a zero-tolerance towards corruption and that no anomaly and malpractice would go unnoticed at any administration level.
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