The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hit out against a “major scam” by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, accusing it of not honouring its manifesto promise of building 500 new government schools.
BJP alleged that the Delhi government had indulged in corruption in the construction of new classrooms by giving tenders to “selected contractors.” The BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia alleged that Kejriwal did not take any note of the report submitted over two years ago by the Central Vigilance Commission, which highlighted irregularities in the construction of classrooms in government schools in Delhi.
The Delhi LG V K Saxena has sought a report from the Chief Secretary over the delay of 2.5 years on the part of the Vigilance Department in acting on the CVC inquiry report into the construction of additional classrooms in Delhi Government Schools. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Gaurav Bhatia said, “AAP’s manifesto promised 500 new schools in Delhi. The new schools didn’t come up but, in a pre-planned manner, they sought a report from the Public Welfare Department. Submitted at the behest of Arvind Kejriwal, the report stated that additional classrooms will be built and new schools won’t be built. Now it is said that extra rooms will be built in the schools, but new schools will not be opened. There was a requirement of 2,400 rooms in the schools, but this was increased to 7,180,” Bhatia said. The BJP leader alleged that there was a hike of 50 to 90 per cent in the cost of construction of the classrooms.
“50-90 per cent hiked construction cost was shown, overlooking provisions of the CPWD manual, for profit so that tender can be given to select contractors. Matter of concern as CVC inquiry report that a major scam took place, was sent to Delhi government Vigilance secretary 2.5 years back,” he alleged.
Bhatia alleged that due to the escalation of costs as shown in the report of the PWD, 6,133 classrooms were supposed to be built. However, only 4,027 classrooms were built.
BJP Delhi Chief Adesh Gupta alleged that Kejriwal appointed an architect, who is a close consultant of Minister Satyendar Jain.