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[Global Corruption Report 2005] Corruption in Construction
Jha, Raj Kamal
Jha, Raj Kamal
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Abstract
"On the night of 27 November 2003, Dubey was murdered. Stepping off a train at Gaya, a town not very far from his workplace at Koderma, he waited for his car. When it failed to show up – for reasons still unexplained, the driver was unable to start the car that night – he boarded a cycle-rickshaw. Dubey never made it home: armed men intercepted the rickshaw and shot him dead. There was no word on his killers and no sign of the rickshaw-puller who witnessed the murder. The case was already being treated as routine, another cold statistic in a state with a poor record for law and order. On 30 November 2003, however, the Indian newspaper the Sunday Express reported that Dubey had written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) complaining about corruption along the 60-kilometre stretch where he worked. His request for confidentiality had apparently not been honoured, making him vulnerable to pressure and threats. In his letter, Dubey highlighted several instances of what he called ‘loot of public money’ and ‘poor implementation’ at the project site. He alleged that procurement had been ‘completely manipulated and hijacked’ by contractors, and that quality had been compromised by subcontracting work to small contractors. To many in India’s construction industry, this had a familiar ring. Such goings-on are commonplace, especially when it comes to contracts. Bribery of officials and musclepower to browbeat other contenders are often used to win contracts. Substandard works are churned out and public money drained. ‘Works are usually being awarded at high cost and 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 of executing such big projects ... 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 ... These petty contractors are bringing poor equipment and material, giving a big setback to the progress and quality of work’, he wrote. Dubey requested that his name be kept secret, but at the same time he let his identity be known. He had reason to. ‘Since such letters from a common man’, he wrote, ‘are not usually treated with due seriousness, I wish to clarify ... that this letter is being written after careful thought by a very concerned citizen who is also very closely linked with the project ... [K]indly go through my brief particulars (attached on a separate sheet to ensure secrecy) before proceeding further.’"(pg 10)
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Preprint
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2005
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0745323979
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With permission of the license/copyright holder