KOLHAPUR: Faced with allegations by corporators that the civic body has cleared bills of Rs 2.5 crore for works of Rs 25 lakh, the civic administration on Friday claimed that the funds were mistakenly released.On Thursday, the corporators of the Congress party alleged that the administration has cleared bills of Rs 2.5 crore for constructing the iron-bridge for the Kalammawadi direct pipeline project. The corporators said the actual cost of the bridge is around Rs 25 lakh.Sharandhar Deshmukh, Congress leader of house, said he had written to the civic administration on March 31, about the inflated bill but did not get any response.The corporators had demanded an investigation against the officials signing the bills.The KMC has undertaken the work to lay pipeline on a 52km stretch from Kalammwadi dam site to the city to provide clean and regular water to the citizens. However, even 29 months after the deadline, the work has not yet completed.The KMC has to build such iron-bridges of small size at around 20 places along the route as the terrain is uneven.Responding to the allegations of clearing inflated bills, deputy commissioner Vijay Khorate said, "The bills were issued mistakenly. The claims by the corporators are true. However, there can be some mistakes in estimating a particular kind of work and we are undertaking corrective measures to release the bills as per the genuine estimates."Deshmukh told TOI, "We have suggested the civic administration to call a special general body meeting to discuss various issues pertaining to the project. We are not against the project but we want it to be effectively implemented as it will provide water to the city for the next 30 years. We have demanded the officials that the bills for a particular work should be released only after scrutinising the real estimates of the work."The total cost of the project is around Rs 488 crore. So far, the civic body has completed 40% of the work by spending around Rs 180 crore. The major part of the funds is provided by the central the state governments and the KMC are contributing 10% share in the project.

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