CAG pulls up Uttar Pradesh for 4-laning road in Mulayam Singh Yadav's village

NEW DELHI: Soon after coming to power in UP in 2012, the Samajwadi Party government sanctioned widening of a 11-km two-lane road to four lanes connecting Saifai to the Saifai airstrip at a cost of Rs 33 crore even when the volume of traffic was negligible.

All this "as per the directions of higher authorities", the chief engineer of Kanpur zone informed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which has reviewed the project and objected to excess expenditure of Rs 15 crore. After the contract was awarded in October 2012, the state government changed specifications to escalate the project cost by 64%, to Rs 54 crore. Not inviting fresh tenders for raising the project cost invited the CAG's attention which rejected the justification of the chief engineer. The auditor said "directions of higher authorities" could not merit widening of a two-lane road to a four-lane highway.

Saifai, a village with around 1,480 families, is the birthplace of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. His son Akhilesh is chief minister of the state and younger brother Shivpal is the public works department minister. The CAG carried out checks and noted that the four-lane road was not required at all and was constructed in violation of guidelines.

"Reply of the government was not acceptable as the widening of the two-lane road on the basis of traffic census during Saifai Mahotsava was in contravention of Indian Road Congress norms and even the traffic census data collected during Saifai Mahotsava did not justify widening of the road to four-lane," the CAG said in a report tabled in the assembly.

The auditor said the widening from two lanes to four was in contravention of IRC specifications and led to unjustified expenditure of Rs 15 crore.