Congress on Wednesday cornered the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sensational revelations made by the Comptroller General of India (CAG) which has exposed massive scandals worth thousands of crores taking place in the BJP government.
Addressing a Press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress Chairperson Social Media and Digital Platforms and Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asked the Prime Minister whether he will break his silence on the scandals taking place under his nose.
Shrinate pointed out the CAG’s exposing of the massive bunglings in the construction of the Dwarka Expressway. She said, against the original sanctioned expenditure of Rs 18 crore per kilometer, the cost of the project had been escalated to Rs 250 crore per kilometer, which is 14 times more than the original cost. She wondered what was being constructed and whether it was the “eighth wonder of the world?”
Congress also referred to the massive embezzlement in the Bharatmala project under which about 26,316 kilometers of national highways were constructed, again at far inflated cost than originally approved. She said, while the original estimate was Rs 15.37 crores per kilometer, it was later raised to Rs 32.17 crores per kilometer, which means the cost were more than doubled.
Quoting the CAG report, Shrinate disclosed that a random audit of only five toll plazas revealed that Rs 132 crores were charged extra from those driving on highways. Imagine the amount of money looted from the people driving on roads, if the audit is carried out in all toll plazas across the country, she asked, while pointing out, it is the common man who is being robbed.
Referring to yet another scandal, the Congress leader revealed that under Ayushman Bharat, 7.5 lakh beneficiaries were registered with a single mobile phone number. Besides, she added, according to the CAG report tabled in the parliament, insurance claims for fresh treatment were paid against 88,670 already dead persons. Who has pocketed the money as it has not been paid to the beneficiaries, she asked.
Shrinate disclosed that after there was massive scandal in selling and purchasing of land around Ayodhya by the BJP leaders and other officials, now it has been revealed that there is another scandal worth crores of rupees involving the Ayodhya Development Project where about Rs 20 crores payments have been made to the contractors who were not eligible for the project and did not even have the GST number.
She also taunted the media and reminded it about pre-2014 reporting when the CAG report, which though later was dumped as baseless by the courts, was so much played up. “But such things are possible only in a democracy and as there is no democracy anymore, such things like media discussion on CAG report, cannot take place anymore”, she remarked with sharp sarcasm.