State BJP president Manoj Tiwari has urged the Lieutenant-Governor to order a high-level probe into an alleged scam related to the de-silting of drains in the Capital by the Public Works Department (PWD).
‘Bogus work bills’
Mr. Tiwari said that a delegation of the Delhi BJP would soon call on L-G Anil Baijal to apprise him of “a major scam” related to the de-silting work of drains under the PWD “with full knowledge and connivance” of PWD Minister Satyendra Jain.
“We feel that like road beautification projects, there is a large probability that in desilting work, too, bogus work bills are being passed. There are over 1,010 major drains under the PWD but till date hardly 85 have been fully desilted while there are reports of over 250 drains not even being touched and just ceremonial cleaning work being done at around 700 drains,” Mr. Tiwari alleged.
The PWD's work was contrary to the efforts made by the three “cash-starved” civic bodies which, Mr. Tiwari said, had “tried to work beyond their targets.”
“All three civic bodies have worked on almost all small 680 drains under them and their silt removal work exceeds the set targets. The L-G should right away order a probe to assess the scam in desilting work as doing so after the monsoon would elicit 100-odd excuses from Satyendar Jain,” Mr. Tiwari alleged.
