LUCKNOW, JULY 20: A special audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has charged the Uttar Pradesh Government with incurring heavy expenditure on the construction of the multi-crore Ambedkar Udyan Yojna, against all ``norms and procedures''.According to the report, then chief minister Mayawati is alleged to have changed the scope of work and passed fresh orders frequently, thereby escalating 44 times the cost of the project, from Rs two crores to Rs 88.94 crores, during her 184-day tenure in BSP-BJP led coalition government in 1997.The report, presented to the Vidhan Sabha last week, said funds were regularly drawn from the contingency fund of the State and as much as Rs 33.45 crore were used up without technical approval of the detailed project estimates.The report also furnished details of how inflated rates were accepted and paid by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), the nodal agency assigned for executing the project.The total project cost of Rs 88.94 croreincluded the sanctioned cost of Rs 83.42 crore and estimated cost of Rs 5.52 crore for beautification works undertaken without any sanction.The project started on a sprawling 43 acre land near Taj Hotel in Gomtinagar and was scheduled to be completed by September 1997.Observing that the project was implemented without providing for monitoring, testing and quality control, the CAG report said, ``In utter disregard of the guidelines laid by the council of architects, the architect for the project was selected without competition.''The agreement with noted designer and architect Satish Gujral was flawed on many counts and was loaded heavily in his favour. The modifications in the agreement led to extra payment of Rs 84.50 lakh to the architect, on whose part a number of failures were noticed, it said.The report said that contrary to the terms of agreement, Gujral pleaded his inability to select `sculptors' and suppliers for making the `Ambedkar statue', due to shortage of time.Without consultinghim, therefore, the LDA chose its own sculptors and suppliers, predictably at unreasonably high prices.The CAG observed that the State Government restricted the scope of legislative scrutiny by not including the project in the successive State budget, and funds were drawn from the State contingency fund in clear violation of rules.While the dream project of the BSP leader remains ``abandoned'' following a high-level administrative probe by the State Government ordered by Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, the functioning of the two senior ministers, Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon and PWD Minister Kalraj Mishra, who were part of the Cabinet approval of the project, has come under scrutiny.Mayawati still finds nothing wrong with the project and insists that it would be completed if she returns to power. ``Our people are already agitated over the delay in completing the work and would not tolerate even the slightest change in the original plan,'' she said.Sources in the Government, however, saythe work might be completed soon with some modifications.
