Uttar Pradesh: It's a Merry Go Wrong

The summer heat, it seems, is really getting to Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Barely had she come to terms with the criminal case filed against her by the CBI in the multi-crore rupee float pump deal last month when the comptroller and auditor-general (CAG) accused her of diverting nearly Rs 87 crore of the cash-starved state's contingency funds to a dream park project, the Ambedkar Udyan, on the banks of the Gomti river in Lucknow.

While Mayawati is the main target, the CAG has also indicted Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon of the BJP and over a dozen officials of the state finance and housing departments. In its 132-page special audit report submitted to the Kalyan Singh Government this month, the CAG has charged Tandon and the others of violating established norms in various matters relating to the project to please Mayawati (see box). Also figuring prominently in the project is Satish Gujral, the architect-brother of former prime minister I.K. Gujral, whom Mayawati is believed to have unduly favoured. To top it all, the project, which remains incomplete despite over Rs 88.9 crore being spent on it, has been found to be "unsafe". The report says the foundations of various structures were faulty as they were laid without testing the subsoil.

CAG'S OBJECTIONS

Diversion of Rs 87 crore of the state's contingency funds to the project.

Involving departments of irrigation, culture and police (not directly linked with the project) just to use their funds.

Release of Rs 47.1 crore before administrative approval.

Imposing an unrealistic time- frame of three-six months for completion of the udyan.

Changing scope of work which pushed up costs by Rs 40 crore.

Deciding midway to build a guesthouse and drain at a cost of Rs 15.8 crore. This, despite the fact that the VVIP government guesthouse on M.G. Marg, 5 km away, has low occupancy.

Over Rs 10 lakh spent on the frequent visits of Mayawati, who put unprecedented pressure on officials to get the work done.

Setting up a high-powered committee in place of the expenditure finance panel.

Advance payment of Rs 3.5 lakh made to architect Satish Gujral even before agreement was signed.

It was during her first tenure as chief minister of the state in 1995 that Mayawati came up with the idea of setting up a park in the name of B.R. Ambedkar. Within 48 hours of the decision, she wanted to convert it into a grand udyan, with an aquarium, a children's park and an information centre. The scope of the project was enlarged again later by adding a memorial for Ambedkar, a public-services campus and a guesthouse. By this time, a sum of Rs 47.2 lakh had already been spent on the venture. The changes meant rendering a large part of the project infructuous.

In fact, as the CAG report points out, as much as Rs 47.1 crore was released and Rs 33.5 crore utilised for the project even before administrative approval was accorded. Diverting the contingency funds to the project was not only in contravention of budgetary provisions but, as the report says, "unwarranted as this expenditure was neither unforeseen nor of such an emergent nature as to have caused any serious inconvenience, loss or damage to public service".

Mayawati's erratic ways are believed to have pushed up the project cost by over Rs 40 crore. Often, fully built boundary wall, completed bridges, pathways and other structures would be razed to the ground because she would suddenly have second thoughts about them. The former chief minister's visits to the park -- 30 times in six months -- themselves cost the exchequer over Rs 10 lakh. There were times when she landed at the site at 2 a.m., braving heavy rain, with senior officers holding an umbrella over her head. On March 20 last year, a day before she was to take over as chief minister for a second time, Mayawati, along with her mentor Kanshi Ram, descended upon the park and was shocked to find that work had come to a standstill. The first thing she did after the swearing-in was to drive down to the park again to take the staff of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) to task for the inordinate delay.

The LDA, on its part, now contends that the frequent modifications and demolition had affected the progress of work and had cost the authority alone Rs 7.21 crore. The decision to revise the project plan had resulted in an additional expense of Rs 7.33 crore. However, the lda's role in the selection of Satish Gujral as project architect has raised eyebrows. In August 1995, the government directed the LDA to select an architect through open competition. Seven applications were received but were rejected. Three different LDA teams subsequently went to Delhi and decided on Gujral though he refused to participate in any bidding. His services were hired in violation of all procedures and Rs 1.55 crore was paid to him, according to cag. Gujral was unavailable for comment.

Also unprecedented was the constitution of the High Powered Committee (HPC) by Mayawati and Tandon. A categorical move to bypass the existing Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), which had declined to approve the project, the HPC was set up solely for the udyan. It comprised, among others, the then chief secretary Brijendra Sahai, and was assisted by a technical cell attached to the EFC. A revised proposal was subsequently drawn up and cleared in a day's time by Sahai. To date, the project has no technical approval and the technical cell has admitted that its examination of the estimates is "negligible".

At one point of time, Tandon, known for his loyalty to Mayawati rather than Kalyan Singh, had even proposed the handing over of the project to a trust, with Mayawati as chairperson. But with Kalyan Singh taking over, this could not materialise. When the chief minister ordered the CAG audit, Tandon reacted sharply, saying he would resign if the charges against him were proved. With his mentor in trouble herself, he will now have to fend for himself.