Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal on Thursday wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, alleging “corruption in the construction of over 14,000 rural roads” under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Jaiswal, the West Champaran MP, said, “I want to bring your attention towards reports of irregularities in construction of 14,000 rural roads. The construction is not being done as per given standards and this cannot be possible without involvement of engineers.” The letter added, “If there is a high-level inspection. you may find complicity of engineers and contractors.” Citing a specific example of alleged corruption from West Champaran Lok Sabha segment, Jaiswal said for a 2017-18 PMGSY road (LO-141) under Manjhaulia block, payments of Rs 29,33,455 on December 14, 2018, Rs 46,90,559 on January 15 this year and Rs 16,97,986 on February 18 were made in advance to the contractor “without any construction in connivance with engineer”. “The engineer, along with politicians, has been trying to justify the payments and they are showing some areas (as) flood-hit which were never affected by floods,” said Jaiswal. His letter comes as Nitish visited West Champaran on Thursday. Meanwhile, Bihar Information and Public Relations Minister and JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express, “We have followed up the matter and found that the contractor in question had already been debarred. The government will further look into the matter.”
