Mayawati govt is diverting central funds: Congress

The Congress today charged the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh with spending nearly Rs 14,000 crore on setting up parks and memorials in the name of dalit icons.

A large portion of Central funds was also diverted to these projects, Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh said here.

"Between July 2007 and August '09, the Rashtriya Nirman Nigam alone has spent over Rs 4436.46 crore on memorials and parks set up in the name of Dr Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," he said.

The state government had already spent Rs 14,000 crore and, in all, planned to spend more than Rs 25,000 crore on such projects, Singh said.

The Congress leader alleged the construction work on these projects did not conform to the Master Plan. 

"Almost one-third of the state budget has been spent on stone and construction works," he said. 

The party would stage a protest in New Delhi on April 19 against the "diversion" of central funds, chairman of the RTI cell of the party Shailendra Singh said.