Yet another incident of a contentious contract awarded to contractor Ranjit Buildcon in January 2021 has come to light when Vijay Rupani was the chief minister of Gujarat. The then municipal commissioner of Rajkot, Udit Agarwal, had awarded a contract to Ranjit Buildcon for the construction of four bridges from the state’s Bridge Grant. 

Four over-bridges were to be constructed in the Kalawad Road area, with an estimated cost of ₹172.65 crore.

However, the work was expedited under questionable circumstances, with an additional ₹79 crore approved, resulting in a total expenditure of ₹251 crore.

At that time, the elected term of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation had ended, and a bureaucratic administration had been appointed. During such administrative periods, only urgent routine works should be undertaken, and the bridge construction in Rajkot was not an emergency.

The agency had requested an additional ₹79 crore and negotiations and re-tendering should have been conducted to save the public’s money. 

However, suspicion of corruption arose when the commissioner, in haste, awarded the contract to a single agency, Ranjit Buildcon, before the elections were announced. This resulted in delays in the bridge works, causing severe traffic issues for the public.

Ranjit Buildcon was previously awarded two contracts by the corporation.

(1) ESR (Elevated Service Reservoir) and GSR (Ground Service Reservoir) Water Works at Rajyadharam for ₹29.73 crore on March 8, 2019.

(2) ESR work at GETCO Chowkdi for ₹45.50 crore on February 29, 2020. These projects were to be completed by December 21, 2021. However, Ranjit Buildcon took approximately two years longer to complete these projects, finishing them on July 27, 2023, and March 7, 2024, respectively.

As a result, despite the higher cost, people had to endure inadequate filtration and an overloaded filter plant for water distribution. 

Notably, after these contracts were awarded, Vijay Rupani resigned in September 2021, and the commissioner was subsequently transferred. However, no thorough investigation has been conducted into these multi-crore projects, no action has been taken against anyone, and no significant penalties have been imposed.

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