FAR Construction: Complaint Filed Against DDA Vice Chairman IAS Subhasish Panda
FAR Construction: Complaint Filed Against DDA Vice Chairman IAS Subhasish Panda
These are the excerpts from the complaint that I sent to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Government of India.
By Rakesh Raman
Update: November 16, 2024
After my updated complaint of October 26, 2024 that I sent to DoPT against DDA Vice Chairman Subhasish Panda, he has been replaced. As reported on November 12, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has appointed Vijay Kumar Singh as DDA Vice Chairman.
However, my complaint against Subhasish Panda will continue and now I will also approach the new DDA Vice Chairman Vijay Kumar Singh to get the following issue resolved.
When the corrupt Delhi Development Authority (DDA) officials did not take action to stop illegal and dangerous construction, I sent their complaint to Dr. Jitendra Singh, who is the Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) / Prime Minister Office (PMO), Government of India, New Delhi.
I filed the corruption complaint against Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Vice Chairman (VC) Subhasish Panda, IAS, and other DDA officials for dereliction of duty and complicity in construction-cum-corruption crime.
The other DDA officials named in my complaint dated October 21, 2024 are Sudhir Kumar Kain, Dir. (Bldg.); Kapil Prashant, Dy. Dir. (Bldg.); Ms. Manju Paul, Commissioner (Plg.) / Special Task Force (STF); Amit Kumar, STF; Ms. Kakoli Maiti, STF; and Deepak Suyal, DDA Dwarka.
I tried to contact them with email, WhatsApp messages, and phone calls, but they carelessly ignored my requests even in the emergency situation when my house (No. 463, DPS CGHS, Sector 4, Dwarka, New Delhi) was being broken by illegal construction and trespassed by criminals in the second and third week of October 2024. ] I was given these contacts by the DDA VC office (Mr. Navneet and Mr. Bhim).
While DDA VC Subhasish Panda is involved in a citywide environmental crime, I am also a victim of his criminal activities. Subhasish Panda joins a list of 10 other notorious IAS officers who are running the illegal construction crime in collusion with builders’ mafia in Delhi.
The DoPT has urged the Cabinet Secretariat to investigate the matter of other IAS officers involved in corruption and environmental crime (Exhibits are given below). This criminal enterprise – termed as the Widehouse corruption scandal – has been causing lethal pollution, fatal accidents, and disruptions in essential services (such as water, electricity, phone, cooking gas, etc.) in Delhi’s group housing societies.
The details of this construction crime being committed under the draconian floor area ratio (FAR) scheme and names of IAS officers facing DoPT corruption investigations are given in the “India Corruption Research Report 2024” that I compiled and released recently. [ You can click here to read the India Corruption Research Report 2024. ]
As a journalist and environmental activist, I have been running field campaigns and complaining to the authorities for the past 6 years to stop FAR construction crime as it is causing serious harm to children, men, women, including senior citizens who live in housing societies.
In fact, FAR construction crime deprives people of their fundamental / human right to live in a clean, pollution-free, and peaceful environment. Therefore, this construction crime violates Article 21 of the Constitution of India – Right to Life and Personal Liberty – which gives every citizen the right to live in a peaceful environment including pollution-free clean air.
Since FAR crime is happening in my housing society (DPS CGHS, Sector 4, Dwarka, Delhi) also, I complained about it to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India and the anti-corruption authority Lokpal of India. The DDA informed me in 2021 that under the directions of NHRC and Lokpal, the FAR crime has been stopped at DPS CGHS (DDA documents are given below as Exhibits).
However, the DPS CGHS management committee (MC), which has been involved in major cases of crime and corruption, bribed a judge Manish Khurana and DDA officials to get the construction resumed, although it was declared unauthorized by DDA (details of corruption investigation of judge Manish Khurana are given below).
The lethal construction at DPS CGHS was started by a builders’ mafia member M. N. Sampathkumar (also written as Sampath Kumar) who masqueraded as the secretary in DPS CGHS MC. Sampathkumar’s name appears as a convict or an accused in multiple government investigation reports or court documents, but he has not yet been arrested by the police which is bribed by Sampathkumar’s gang. (Photo left: Sampathkumar).
The police informed me that an FIR under Section 304-A and other IPC sections has been registered for lethal construction at DPS CGHS and because of which a construction worker died.
However, the police deliberately did not include the names of the MC members of DPS CGHS who are responsible for this death and this deadly construction was started by Sampathkumar and his gang. And even after the death and multiple accidents in the building, the police and DDA have not stopped dangerous construction at DPS CGHS. Apparently, the DPS CGHS MC members use residents’ money to bribe government officials who do not take action against them.
Although it is mentioned in the police vigilance report shared with me that an FIR No. 102/2022 has been registered in the DPS CGHS case u/s 288 / 337 IPC and additional Section 304-A, the details have not been given, as police want to protect the real culprits in DPS CGHS MC which is operating in collusion with builders’ mafia.
[ VIDEOS: You can click here to watch a video that shows the damage being caused by FAR construction and you can also click here to watch the video that shows damage done by FAR construction to my flat No. 463 at DPS CGHS. ]
In my complaint, I have urged DoPT to prosecute and punish DDA Vice Chairman Subhasish Panda (IAS) and other DDA officers accused in the FAR construction crime. I have also asked to stop construction at DPS CGHS and demolish the construction that happened in the past 5 years. My complaint also states that DDA should stop FAR construction crime in other housing societies and should not give further permission for FAR construction in Delhi.
In response to the complaint filed by me, DDA ordered a site inspection at DPS CGHS on October 24, 2024. But I told DDA that I am not interested in this deceptive inspection which I believe is supposed to protect the DPS CGHS MC members.
In response to the inspection order, I told DDA that this bogus inspection is not required, because I have repeatedly provided details of violations by DPS CGHS MC to DDA. Since DDA has acknowledged these violations, it had declared FAR construction at DPS unauthorized and stopped it. But with the collusion of corrupt DDA officials and a dishonest judge, the construction was resumed – which needs to be stopped and demolished.
Report: You can click here to download and study the 46-page report (including exhibits, official documents, photographs, hyperlinked documents, and video links) related to the complaint that I sent to DoPT. The report in this article is protected with a password.
Note: This case is part of our “Clean House” anti-corruption social service, which helps the residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies where millions of people suffer because of rampant corruption and lawlessness by the MC members or the administrators.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
