Fresh vigilance enquiry ordered into the Kerala State Transport Project's MC Road contract
5 October 2026
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has ordered a vigilance enquiry into the Kerala State Transport Project contract for the development of the MC Road, saying he found substance in the complaint after examining it.
The contract was worth Rs 215 crore for 127 kilometres of road and went to the PATI-BEL Consortium.
The complaint was given by KPCC member Malayinkeezhu Venugopal.
A special team led by the Vigilance Director will carry out the enquiry.
Four vigilance enquiries were ordered in 2006 into the project, covering consultancy awarded to foreign firms, construction lapses, pricing for demolished property and payments for maintenance work.
A Comptroller and Auditor General report put wasteful expenditure and fraud connected with the project at Rs 92.7 crores.
Gyanesh Kumar, now the Chief Election Commissioner, was Kerala's Public Works Secretary in the period of the contract and was moved out of that post in November 2006.
In plain words
KSTP Kerala State Transport Project — A State road upgrading programme that rebuilt major Kerala highways including the MC Road.
MC Road Main Central Road — The inland highway running from Thiruvananthapuram to Angamaly through central Kerala.
CAG Comptroller and Auditor General of India — The constitutional auditor of the accounts of the Union and the States.
Vigilance Directorate Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Kerala — The State agency that enquires into corruption by public servants in Kerala.