Indicating that his government could go into the issue of alleged irregularities in construction of memorials during the Mayawati regime, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today that CAG and Lokayukta reports in this regard will be placed before the state Assembly.
"The government will present the CAG and Lokayukta reports pertaining to the construction of memorials and also constitute a committee later for further action," the chief minister said replying to a question as he presented a white paper on the functioning of the previous governments.
The construction of various memorials finds a mention in the white paper also.
"We have brought the white paper before you so that you can know what comment has been made by the Lokayukta and what has been said by the CAG," he said.
Citing the CAG report for the year ending March 31, 2013, the white paper states that state government approved four memorials in Lucknow and one in Noida between 2007-2008 to 2009-2010 for which the original sanction was for Rs 943.73 crore which was amended to Rs 4558.02 crore, an increase of 483 per cent.
"Besides, additional works worth Rs 3537.68 crore were included in it...This was totally unnecessary expenditure," the white paper states adding that the selection of a consultant for the project was done in an arbitrary manner.
The remarks of the CAG show that there were massive irregularities in the construction of the memorials, the white paper states.
In May 2013, the then Lokayukta NK Mehrotra in a report submitted to then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had claimed that public money worth Rs 1,400 crores was siphoned off in construction of memorials and indicted 199 people including her once close aide and former BSP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui.
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