Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and former Public Works Department Minister Satyendar Jain have been booked by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi government in connection with a Rs 2,000 crore “classroom scam”. Here’s all you need to know. The scam Between 2015 and 2019, the Delhi government, under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), undertook a large-scale infrastructure project to improve school facilities. Among other things, this included the construction of 12,748 classrooms across various schools. The PWD was assigned the task of executing the work. However, multiple complaints filed by political leaders, including members of the BJP, claimed the project was riddled with corruption, resulting in a loss of nearly Rs 2,000 crore to the public exchequer. A total of 12,748 semi-permanent structures were supposed to be built at a cost of Rs 1,200 per sqft. But during construction, the cost shot up to around Rs 2,292 per sqft. Key allegations It was alleged that the semi-permanent structures — which have a lifespan of less than 30 years — were constructed at a cost equivalent to RCC (reinforced cement concrete) structures, which last 75 years. This contradicts the stated objective of cost-saving and sustainability. The core allegation is that the cost per classroom was fraudulently inflated during the construction process. As per the complaints and verification, the construction cost per room came out to approximately Rs 24.86 lakh, exponentially higher than the roughly Rs 5 lakh it takes for similar constructions in Delhi. Reports from the Chief Technical Examiner (CTE) of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) revealed serious violations of government financial rules, CPWD manuals, and tendering processes. These include awarding contracts to firms allegedly associated with the ruling party without proper bidding, escalating project costs by 17% to 90% without inviting fresh tenders, engaging private consultants without following due procedure and duplication of work, execution of work without demand from schools, and mismanagement of timelines and funds.
