Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari has pointed a finger at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in connection with corruption in the Commonwealth Games. He said that for some of the works the cost estimates were revised several times from 2007 to 2010 and these were “processed by the Ministry concerned, cleared by the PMO and then approved by the Cabinet.”
For five stadiums – the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, the Indira Gandhi National Stadium complex, the S.P.M. Swimming Pool complex and Dr. Karni Shooting Range – the approved cost was Rs.1000 crore. But by March 5, 2009, the cost escalated two-and-half times to Rs. 2,460 crore.
Detail design plans for modifications of the stadiums were made, and yet, without further modifications or additions the cost went up several times, Mr. Gadkari said in a statement.
While Rs. 200 crore was initially provided for overlays, the proposals went up to Rs. 948 crore, a five-fold increase, Mr. Gadkari noted.
The question the BJP was asking was how such steep cost escalation was approved without going into details. And this was apparently done at various stages before clearances from the PMO and the Cabinet, he said.
