Lucknow: In the famous Gomti riverfront scam that took place during the SP regime, the difficulties of many contractors are going to increase soon. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has intensified its investigation in the matter. The ED has summoned several contractors close to scam-accused Irrigation Department’s then superintending engineer Roop Singh Yadav for questioning.
In November 2020, the CBI arrested Roop Singh Yadav and the then senior assistant Rajkumar from Lucknow. Sources say that the CBI had also registered another case against Roop Singh Yadav for rigging in the allocation of contracts. The role of contractors close to Roop Singh is now under ED probe on a case-by-case basis.
There is a scam of several thousand crores
In November 2017, the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI Lucknow started the investigation by registering an FIR in the Gomti Riverfront scam. After this, ED started the investigation of this scam by registering a case in March, 2018. It was revealed in the investigation that during the construction of the riverfront, the Irrigation Department had issued 12 tenders related to construction works worth Rs 1031 crore.
Apart from this, 661 construction works worth Rs 407 crore were allotted to different contractors. The CBI had registered another case in July, 2021 when economic irregularities and rules were ignored in the allocation of these contracts. The contractors had supplied the goods and got the construction work done at arbitrary prices. In some construction works, the matter of overrating up to ten times has come to the fore. The contractors had given a major share of the profits to the engineers. The contractors have been called for questioning along with balance sheets, details of bank accounts and other documents related to the works done by them.