Ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has found himself at the centre of a fresh controversy in the wake of alleged financial irregularities during the Mahakumbh Mela at Haridwar last year.
A criminal complaint has been lodged with the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kunwar Amanedra Singh here against Nishank and two others on account of alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of crores of rupees during the mela where the central grant was nearly Rs 565 crore. The other two persons incriminated are mela minister Madan Kaushik and the then mela adhikari Anand Vardhan.
The complaint has been filed under IPC sections 120 B(criminal conspiracy)and section 409 (breach of trust by a public servant) by J D Jain in the court which has posted the hearing for May 2. The case has also taken the cognisance of a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which highlighted the widespread irregularities during the kumbh mela.
Interestingly, the case came at a time when only few months are left for the Assembly elections in the state. The case has given a fresh lease of life to the campaign of former Chief Ministers B C Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, who are openly supporting Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption. Both the two leaders have already met the central leadership of the BJP complaining on the issue of a series of alleged scams rocking the hill state.
However, a BJP spokesman dismissed the allegations saying the charges against Nishank were politically motivated. “The government has earned a lot of goodwill during the kumbh mela,” said the spokesperson.
The recent CAG report has put the government in a tight spot by highlighting wasteful, avoidable and unauthorised expenditures of nearly Rs 43 crore in the Kumbh Mela which was organised last year from January 1 to April 30, with a total action plan of Rs 590 crore with the centre contributing Rs 565 crore.
The report also stated that 54 works with approved cost of Rs 180.07 crore remained incomplete.
