Even as LK Advani gets ready to file his nomination papers from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, he finds himself in thick of an unsavoury controversy.
Even as senior BJP leader and the party’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani gets ready to file his nomination papers from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, he finds himself in thick of an unsavoury controversy.
Reports said Advani was supposed to have spent Rs1.05 lakh from his member of parliament local area development (MPLAD) fund for installing 30 benches for visitors in the famous Punit Van garden at Gandhinagar. Though there exist 30 benches in the garden at present, they aren’t from Advani’s grant, claims an NGO.
The NGO, the Senior Citizen Council, claims that the benches were installed by them in 2006, and that no one else had contributed for these.
However, the official figures of MPLAD grant usage provided by the district planning office state that during the financial year 2007-08, Rs26.83 lakh was spent on six different works. Of this amount, Rs1.05 lakh were utilised in installation of 30 benches for sitting purpose in the Punit Van and another Rs6.76 lakh was used for installing 300 benches in different sectors of the city.
However, there is no evidence of any benches in Punit Van, other than the 30 which the NGO claims as theirs.
Hasmukhbhai Shah, secretary of the NGO, told DNA that the organisation, with the permission of the state forest department which manages the garden, had spent Rs54,300 for installing 30 benches in the garden. On August 22, 2006, the then principal chief conservator of forest, ML Sharma, had inaugurated the installation of the benches. “We have installed around 1,100 benches with help of trader groups, with each bench costing Rs600. We have spent Rs6,60,000 in total for installing 1,100 benches in the city. We do not know why the officials are claiming installing these benches at a cost of Rs1.05 lakh in Punit Van and 300 other benches in the city for Rs6.76 lakh. Both the figures seem very excessive,” said Shah, adding that they are yet to notice any benches installed by the MP anywhere so far.
Despite repeated attempts, the district planning officials were not available for comments.
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