Days after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena gave permission to the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) to probe allegations of “irregularities” against Public Works Department (PWD) officials in construction of seven temporary hospitals during Covid, Delhi BJP leaders trained guns at the Aam Aadmi Party government, accusing it of indulging in “corruption”.
Northeast Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, who had lodged a complaint in the matter, visited Kirari on Wednesday and claimed that while there was a board stating that the land was under the possession of the Delhi Health Department, there was no hospital at the spot.
“There was supposed to be a 458 bedded hospital in Kirari. This information was also made available on the PWD website but we found that there was neither a permanent hospital built in 2020 nor a temporary hospital in 2021,” he alleged.
Kirari MLA, Rituraj Jha, meanwhile, said that the possession of the land to build a hospital was granted to the Delhi government only in 2021.
“Manoj Tiwari’s assertions are completely wrong. He says that the hospital was ready in 2020 itself and that the construction was not as per norms when construction has not even started. Work on other hospitals is 70% complete but it has not started at Kirari because the entire area was waterlogged,” he said.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said that the BJP’s complaint had been filed during the tenure of the previous L-G Anil Baijal and that he had not given permission to the ACB to proceed because the case was “frivolous”.
Other BJP leaders, including Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta and head of the party’s IT department Amit Malviya also targeted the AAP government. “The hospital exists only on paper! This is a 1,256 crore scam by the AAP. Where did the money go, Arvind Kejriwal?” Malviya tweeted.
Official sources said the L-G granted “long pending” permission to the ACB to probe allegations of irregularities in awarding tenders against the then Engineer in Chief and current Chief Engineer of the Delhi PWD.
“The ACB had sought permission to proceed in the matter of irregularities in construction of seven temporary hospitals by PWD, under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in 2020. The permission was delayed due to various reasons,” said a senior officer.
Tiwari has alleged that the Delhi government’s expenditure committee cleared the proposal for setting up seven temporary hospitals for Covid treatment worth Rs 1,210 crore on August 10, 2021.
Tiwari claimed that Rs 1,256 crore was later cleared for the same purpose.
In his complaint to the ACB, he alleged that the tender for the construction was granted before the approval from the cabinet was taken.
