After Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP and UP in-charge Sanjay Singh levelled serious corruption charges on the Yogi Adityanath government, now Congress leader in the UP Legislative Council, Deepak Singh, targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party government terming the embezzlement in Prayagraj Kumbh Mela as one of the biggest scam committed by the present regime in Uttar Pradesh.
Singh alleged that what was more serious was that the chief minister, instead of cracking the whip on the accused under his self-proclaimed zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, had given them full shelter and had tried to hush up the matter by pushing it under the carpet, claiming it as attack on `Hindutva’.
He said that the matter was also raised on the floor of the House but the government took no cognisance.
Referring to the Comptroller and Auditor General report, Singh, while addressing media persons here on Tuesday evening, said there was a huge scam of Rs 2,743.60 crore in Kumbh Mela, and it was bigger even than the infamous fodder scam of Bihar.
“This allegation is not made by me or my party but it is mentioned in the government audit report,” Singh said while demanding stern action against all the officials concerned besides resignation of Yogi Adityanath for giving patronage to the accused.
Referring to the CAG report, he said, “The 32 tractors purchased in the name of Kumbh are actually the numbers of mopeds and scooters. This means that during the Kumbh, the officials got the garbage transported by a car, moped and scooters and spent Rs 33.50 lakh on it.”
Singh further said, “It has also come to the fore in the CAG report that out of the amount of State Disaster Relief Fund for equipment for Kumbh Mela, Rs 65.87 crore was paid to the Home department when this fund is used only for disaster victims. It has been said in the report that this amount was used for other items without approval. We demand strict action against the culprits after conducting an inquiry into the entire matter.”
Similarly, he said, against the allocated budget of Rs 105 crores for tin shades, tents, pandals and barricading, the Mela officer showed Rs 143.13 crores spent without any one's consent. Heavy budgets have also been siphoned in the name of construction or repair of roads, he said and adding that one temporary toilet was built at a cost of Rs 42,000 while tents were shown erected at Rs 231.45 crore.
The audit report of the CAG regarding the infrastructure prepared for organising the Kumbh Mela exposed various irregularities and lapses. The audit report for the year ended March 31, 2019, was presented in the Vidhan Sabha from where it has been sent to the Public Accounts Committee of the Legislative Assembly. As per tradition, the principal accountant general informs the media about this report after the audit report is laid on the table of the House.
In the report, many flaws have come to the fore regarding Kumbh Mela 2019. An amount of Rs 2,425 crore has been spent on the Kumbh Mela, of which Rs 1,281 crore was spent by the Centre and the remaining amount was spent by the state government. There was an intervention of about 16 departments in this.
According to the CAG report, Magh Mela is held every year in Prayagraj and Kumbh and Maha Kumbh are organised every six years, but the government has completely failed to plan for permanent construction and no standards have been set for permanent construction works.
According to the audit report, the Urban Development department had approved a budget of Rs 2,744 crore for the Kumbh Mela against which Rs 2,112 crore had been spent till July 19. The information about the allocation and expenditure by the departments was not provided by the Kumbh Mela officer due to which the exact status of many allocated funds and expenditure could not be known.
