East Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) Ravi Shankar Shukla on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the alleged anomaly in the construction of a stadium at Karandih on the outskirts of the city.

Jamshedpur block panchayat functionaries had alleged that the contractor was using fly ash for filling up the shallow and uneven land at the site where the stadium is being built. DC Shukla said he had ordered the nodal officer for Jamshedpur block Dinesh Ranjan and the district sports officer Manmohan Prasad to investigate the matter.

“I had got a complaint from Jamshedpur block panchayat head Rabindranath Singh about the use of fly ash in the construction of the stadium. I have asked two competent officers to probe the matter,” Shukla told The Telegraph.

The stadium in question is being set up by East Singhbhum district special division, which looks after development work in rural areas, at a cost of Rs 4.64 crore and is expected to be completed within a year.

The contractor has allegedly dumped hundreds of trucks of fly ash supplied by a local thermal power plant.

Significantly, executive engineer of special division G.P. Baitha has admitted to the use of fly ash following a change in the dimensions of the stadium from the original plan.

“The state government had planned to set up a 90mX100m stadium and had sanctioned Rs 4.64 crore. However, a section of local residents kept pressing for a bigger stadium that can host district-level games. Therefore, we decided to make a 180mX200m stadium,” Baitha said.

The executive engineer pointed out that the bigger stadium needed double the space and the shallow and uneven land required to be fixed for the purpose. “To level out the additional land, the contractor would have needed 19 feet soil at the north-west side of the stadium, which would have turned the project costlier. Therefore, I decided to get it filled with fly ash instead. Accordingly, I sent a requisition to the district administration to make arrangements for fly ash, which was procured from a local thermal power plant,” the executive engineer said.

Levelling of the land requires 1,000 truckloads of flyash. The thermal power plant pays Rs 300 to the contractor for dumping a truck of flyash. Had the contractor used soil instead, he would have to shell out Rs 3,000 per truckload of soil.

Baitha said people were raising objections without factoring in the monetary benefit.

On why he deviated from the original plan without proper approval, Baitha said: “I wanted to get the stadium ready within the deadline. I had planned to prepare a fresh estimate soon, but the panchayat functionaries kicked up a controversy. I have ordered the suspension of the project.”