By IANS,
Lucknow: Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of diverting central government development funds for setting up parks, memorials and statues, the Congress Tuesday said Mayawati has in this way misused around Rs.14,000 crore.
“According to our estimate, ever since she (Mayawati) came to power in July 2007, she has spent nearly Rs.14,000 crore on the construction of statues, memorials and parks that do not have any significance in terms of development,” Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh told reporters at a press conference here.
“Not only this, we have also learnt that she (Mayawati) has a target to spend nearly Rs. 11,000 crore more for parks, memorials and statues,” he claimed.
According to Congress, Nirman Nigam — one of the six government departments involved in construction of memorials — had alone spent Rs.4,436.46 crore between July 2007 and August 2009 on the projects relating to memorials to Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram.
“It’s really surprising that why the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is silent on the issue and not taking any action to prevent any further bungling of funds by the state government,” said Singh.