OC bosses deliberately delayed CWG process: IAS officer

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) The cost escalation in the CWG-
related projects was attributed to acute shortage of time by
the Organising Committee but an Indian Administrative Service
(IAS) officer has told the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) that there was "deliberate negligence" on part of top OC
bosses despite knowing the schedule of the sporting event.
IAS officer and former Chief Operating Officer of the
OC, Vijay Kumar Gautam, arrayed as a witness by the CBI in the
CWG Timing Scoring and Results (TSR) scam, said there was "no
hurry" on part of the top OC bosses, including its chairman
Suresh Kalmadi, a key accused in the case, to get things
moving.
"On being asked, it is stated that when I joined OC on
September 7, 2007, the technology functional area was non-
functional. The technical staff was yet to be appointed. There
was no person handling technology functional area. Needless to
say that no work related to technology was even contemplated
till that time, though the OC CWG 2010 had come into being in
February 2005.
"In fact there was no hurry on the part of the top
bosses in OC to get the things moving. There was deliberate
negligence. It is stated the technology functional area is one
of the core functional areas requiring highly skilled experts
to handle the matters related to it," Gautam told the CBI.
His statement has been annexed with the CBI's charge
sheet, filed in a Delhi court on May 20 against Kalmadi,
former secretary general of OC Lalit Bhanot and others for
their alleged involvement in the TSR scam in which contract
was illegally awarded to a Swiss firm. Bhanot and others are accused of allegedly awarding Rs
141 crore contract to the Swiss firm 'Omega' to install TSR
system for the games at an exorbitant cost, causing a loss of
over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer.
Gautam told the CBI that despite being the COO of OC, he
got to know about the issuance of expression of interest for
procuring TSR only after advertisement in this regard was
published in newspapers on March 23, 2009.
He said that he was annoyed with the manner in which
the EOI was issued and sent strong disagreement note to V K
Verma, Director General of OC and one of the accused in the
TSR scam, who assured him that he would look into the matter.
Regarding award of TSR contract to Swiss firm, Gautam
said there was a concerted and planned move to zero-in on and
select a particular company Swiss Timing for the contract.
"It is stated that my stand in the TSR matter was
absolutely clear throughout and I was dead against all
restrictive practices and manipulations favouring any
particular firm. The entire manipulations were being down by
Kalmadi, V K Verma, Lalit Bhanot and their associates to
favour Swiss Timing," he said.