A video of a departmental meeting in Madhya Pradesh has surfaced, showing Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development and Housing Department Sanjay Dubey confronting officials of urban local bodies over alleged irregularities in government purchases and warning them that the department is monitoring them.

In the recent meeting, Dubey cited instances of garbage vehicles being purchased at vastly different prices by various civic bodies, questioned the need for some municipalities to buy vehicles worth crores of rupees, and warned chief municipal officers against assuming that their purchases would go unnoticed.

The presentation accompanying his remarks cited purchases worth Rs 1,134 crore through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by 374 urban local bodies over three years, with an estimated Rs 250 crore in potential savings had the goods been purchased at average prices.

“You think that you have bought this or bought that, and nobody has any idea about it.…