The Rs 1534 crore Gomti Riverfront Beautification Project is now under the scanner.
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has recommended a CBI probe into yet another dream project of the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav regime. The BJP government has recommended to get the Rs 1534 crore Gomti Riverfront Beautification Project probed by the central investigative agency.
A decision to this effect was taken on the recommendation of the Suresh Khanna committee which had submitted its report to the Chief Minister on June 17. The Principal Secretary Information Avneesh Awasthi has confirmed the recommendation of the CBI probe. “A letter in this regard would be sent to the Centre shortly,” he added.
The committee was formed by Yogi to look into the report of Justice (retd) Alok Singh Committee which initially inquired into Akhilesh Yadav’s ambitious project. The Committee had found several financial and other irregularities in execution of the project. It had nailed former Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan, then Principal Secretary Deepak Singhal and about a dozen senior engineers of the irrigation department.
In his report, the Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Khanna had recommended a CBI probe taking into account the magnitude of financial and other irregularities committed by those involved in the Gomti Riverfront project, envisaged on the theme of Thames river in London.
After taking over the reins of power on March 19, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made a surprise inspection of the Gomti riverbanks to check the progress of the project. During his inspection of records, it was found that only 60 per cent of the work was completed while 95 per cent of the total allocated funds were spent in the project.
Yogi had constituted a three-member committee under Justice (retd) Alok Singh and two technical experts from Benares Hindu University and IIM Lucknow to look into the irregularities. The committee had submitted its report about a month ago. Another committee was formed under Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Khanna to study the Singh Committee report and recommend action against those responsible for financial and other irregularities.
The cost of the project, which was started in 2014-15, was revised thrice from Rs 656 crore to Rs 1534 crore and then again to Rs 2464 crore by the Akhilesh Cabinet. A Rs 50 crore fountain, imported from France, is still lying at Railways due to non-payment of Rs 10 crore duties and freight. Similarly, Rs 5 crore was not paid to a Mumbai-based company which supplied river bus and life boats.
However, despite the CBI probe recommendation, the Yogi government has decided to sanction another Rs 350 crore and complete the project in public interest.
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