The BJP on Wednesday trained its guns at the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, alleging "corruption" in the award of tenders by the flood and irrigation department and payments to contractors without any work being done on the ground.
Flood and Irrigation Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, however, fired back at BJP, asking it to first answer why files were not sent by the officers to the minister in charge of the department for approval.
"Since March 2023, since I took charge of the department and till date, no file of these works was sent by the officers for the minister's approval," Mr Bharadwaj claimed.
Virendra Sachdeva, the BJP's Delhi unit chief, and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Bidhuri during a joint press conference showed copies of purported documents and also interacted with party workers present on the spots where the work was tendered by the department.
"The flood (and irrigation) department of the Kejriwal government is setting new records of corruption, as is shown that payments of crores of rupees were done even though no work was to be seen on the ground," Mr Sachdeva alleged.
A delegation of BJP leaders will meet Lt Governor VK Saxena and request him for a high-level probe into the "scam", Mr Sachdeva added.
"In four cases of work tendered at Burari, Tikri, Kheda Kalan and Siraspur, there was manipulation in the tender and also, under pressure of the minister concerned of the Kejriwal government, the money was paid without work (being done) by showing running bills," Mr Sachdeva charged.
Mr Bidhuri said the BJP leaders will also lodge a complaint with the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) on the corruption at the flood and irrigation department.
"Corruption has spread to every department of the Kejriwal government. In the last two weeks, we have exposed tender and other scams of the Delhi Jal Board, after which the Kejriwal government is trying to spread the illusion of a water crisis in Delhi to delay the investigation," Mr Sachdeva claimed.
He charged that drain and road tenders for the extended Lal Dora area work in Kheda Kala were worth Rs 3.28 crore. It was awarded to a construction company that had quoted Rs 1.58 crore and, despite no work being done on the ground, more than half of the amount was paid in the name of running bills.
In case of drain repairs and painting work in Burari ahead of the G20 Summit, the tender amount was for Rs 76.56 lakh and the successful bidder quoted a price of Rs 38.98 lakh. However, they were paid Rs 43 lakh despite no work being done, he claimed.
In Narela's Tikri village, a construction company was paid Rs 50 lakh for a bid of Rs 1.91 crore for a project under the Chief Minister Road Reconstruction Scheme, although no work is visible on the ground, he alleged.
Bidhuri alleged that in the extended Lal Dora area of Siraspur, a work for construction of reinforced concrete road and drain was awarded to a construction company but no work was done.
"I challenge Chief Minister Kejriwal to show even one road or drain constructed in that area. I will quit politics if he shows me even one," Mr Bidhuri asserted.
In his response, Mr Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP-led Centre and the Lt Governor were running Delhi through their "favourite" officers.
He claimed that the flood and irrigation department secretary was instructed by him in writing that all files related to projects costing more than Rs 25 lakh should be sent to the minister for in-principle approval but it was not being followed by the officers.
"This was to ensure that the minister is at least aware of the projects being undertaken by the department," he said.
Bharadwaj further charged that the Centre's law relating to Delhi have increased the powers of the officers and causing a rise in corruption at the departments of the government.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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