Lucknow. The Vigilance Department in UP has issued notices to former Bahujan Samaj Party ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha in connection with the Rs 4,200 crore scam involving the construction of monuments in Lucknow and Noida under the Mayawati government. Naseemuddin Siddiqui is now in the Congress while Babu Singh Kushwaha heads the Jan Adhikar Manch party. So far 20 people have been arrested in connection with the scam which has been going on since 2013.
After the Lokayukta probe, 199 people including Siddiqui, Kushwaha and 12 BSP MLAs were charged, following which the investigation was initiated. A source in the Vigilance Department said that 40 government officials who were in service at that time have also been issued notices for recording their statements. Vigilance officials said the project managers had used red sandstone, which was procured at exorbitant rates. The sandstone used in the construction of the parks and monuments was procured from the Mizarpur district, but was sent via Rajasthan to inflate the cost, causing huge revenue loss to the state exchequer.
The authorities had filed the first chargesheet in the memorial scam in October 2020 in which six government officials were named. The Enforcement Directorate had also registered a case of PMLA in the memorial scam and attached properties of engineers and contractors in Lucknow. Mayawati had reportedly taken a personal interest in building these monuments in the name of Dalits and Rs 4,500 crore was earmarked for the projects in the state budget.
The then Samajwadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav had lodged an FIR in 2014 after the Lokayukta report was presented. The Lokayukta report states that laborers and machines used to cut stones were hired from Lucknow, while the payment was reportedly ten times the normal wages, fees.
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