Acting upon a complaint against an officer, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had directed the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Ministry had written to the Chairman-cum-Managing Director, WAPCOS & NPCC to look into the charges of corruption.

The Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) investigated the allegations and found correct on the veracity. Instead of taking action against the officer, he was promoted and assigned an important job in the NPCC.

According to reliable sources, one officer Pradeep Kumar has been promoted from Chief Engineer to General Manager in spite of allegations of non-eligible for promotion, misconduct, corruption and abuse of power.

Instead of consequential action, Pradeep Kumar was made Head of the most sensitive vertical i.e. Construction Division and has now been given an additional charge of Head (Projects), NPCC Limited.

It has also been alleged that he has a history of collecting the maximum percentage of “cut money” from contractors.

The development assumes further significance as the earlier Head (Projects) was suspended, reportedly to accommodate/compensate ZM (East), Sunil Kumar, while two posts of ED (Projects) were advertised and subsequently cancelled on administrative grounds.

With the large number of projects in NPCC, insiders allege that Sunil Kumar is unable to meet the alleged collection targets alone and that an “expert” in such collections has therefore been placed as additional charge of Head (Projects), creating an alleged centralised one-window arrangement for collection from contractors.

It is further alleged that persons closely connected with the management, including its advocate, the Chattisgarh based contractor and the husband of a management official against whom the Government is reportedly considering prosecution, are actively involved in the entire process for "Single Window Cut Money Collection".

The allegations cannot, however, be treated as merely unverified allegations where the CVO investigation, reportedly initiated pursuant to the recommendation of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Administrative Ministry, is stated to have found the charges correct and directed necessary action.

If such findings are followed not by accountability but by greater authority and additional charge, it raises a serious question of governance and vigilance in WAPCOS and NPCC. A “sinking ship” cannot be saved by strengthening the very machinery against which such serious corruption and collection-related allegations have been raised and substantiated.