PMAY tender scam: Maharashtra agriculture commissioner receives ED notice, called to record statement

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday served notice to the former district collector of Sambhajinagar, earlier Aurangabad, and present agriculture commissioner of Maharashtra Sunil Chavan in connection with irregularities in the tender process of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) flagship housing scheme.

ED alleges ₹1,000 crore housing scam

According to sources, ED issued notices to Chavan to record a statement in the ₹1,000 crore housing scam and searched 11 places in Sambhajinagar linked to the case.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) had filed criminal offences against four companies which participated in the tender process of the housing scheme after it found that all the tenders were submitted through the same internet protocol (IP) address.

The target was to build 40,000 residential blocks under the scheme and the Revenue Department was responsible for providing land for the construction of residential blocks.

ED probe revolves around land allocation

According to the ED probe, the then collector Sunil Chavan, in March 2022, had allocated land at Teesgaon, Padegaon, Harsul, and Chikalthana. The large pool of land was available on paper at Teesgaon, but investigation revealed that 90% of the land was under mountains and occupied by stone quarries. ED has already questioned the CSMC deputy commissioner Aparna Thete twice in the case.

The tenders filled by three companies Samarath Construction, Indoglobal Infrastructure Services, and Jagwar Global Services were suspected and an investigation by Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Chaudhary confirmed that the tenders were filled from the same laptop – same IP address.

CSMC alleged cartelisation in the submission of tenders and a case was registered against 19 people in City Chowk Police Station.