UP may set up commission to probe Maya scams

The newly-elected Samajwadi Party led-government in Uttar Pradesh may constitute a commission to investigate the large number of scams that made headlines during the previous Mayawati regime in the state. 

 A hint to this effect was dropped by none other than Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav here on Tuesday.

“All options are being weighed.....which agency should be given the task to investigate the large scale financial irregularities that took place during the previous regime”, Yadav said.

According to the chief minister, it appeared that financial irregularities had taken place in almost each and every project and department. “The allegations against the then ministers are very serious in nature and need to be probed thoroughly. We had promised in our election manifesto that we’ll set up a commission to investigate the wrongdoings in Mayawati government”, he added.

Yadav said all put together, the scams “could be to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore”. The opposition parties, namely the BJP and Congress have also demanded special probe into the scams.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had in its recent report pointed towards financial bungling in several projects. It had said that Rs 66 crore had been wasted in the construction of the parks and memorials after dalit icons in the state. The government auditor had also said that hundreds of crores were siphoned off over four lakh beneficiaries in the old age pension scheme.

There are also allegations that the state-run sugar mills were sold on throw away prices causing a loss of nearly Rs 25, 000 crore to the public exchequer.

A scam involving installation of the statues of elephants, the election symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), at parks and memorials surfaced recently prompting officials to seek a probe into it by some specialised agency. The scam which is estimated to be worth several crore, came to light when a police team raided a godown of a contractor at Lucknow on Sunday and recovered cash worth Rs 63.80 lakh and parts of the statue of an elephant.