India
The BJP government has recommended to get Rs 1534 cr Gomti Riverfront Beautification Project scam probed by the central investigative agency
Updated : Jun 20, 2017, 06:40 AM IST
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has recommended a CBI probe into yet another dream project of erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav regime. The BJP government has recommended to get Rs 1534 crore Gomti Riverfront Beautification Project scam 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 Tames river in London.
After taking over reins of power on March 19, the Chief Minister 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 Khanna to study the Singh Committee report and recommend action against those responsible for financial and other irregularities.