What Adityanath's crackdown on Akhilesh Yadav's pet project means for UP
Having apparently drawn inspiration from the anti-corruption tirade that the Centre launched against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has launched probes into various pet projects of predecessor Akhilesh Yadav.
The chief minister's office has sought a detailed status report on each of the projects involving allocations to the tune of several thousand crores. Adityanath's prime focus is likely the Rs 1,500-crore Gomati riverfront project, under which large-scale beautification of both banks of the river was undertaken in Lucknow, the state capital, through which it flows.
While the project was started by Akhilesh's uncle — then UP irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav and his loyal principal secretary Deepak Singhal — the lion's share of the ambitious project was what sparked off trouble between the "chacha" and the "bhatija", leading to the drubbing the ruling Samajwadi Party suffered in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Among the other projects on the chief minister's scanner is the much talked about 300km Lucknow-Agra Expressway, built by his predecessor at the cost of about Rs 12,000 crore.
At a time the expressway was being widely hailed as Akhilesh's biggest success story besides the Lucknow Metro rail, the Adityanath government was suspecting a massive pilferage of funds. And it was with this suspicion in mind that the UP CM ordered a preliminary probe into the project.
However, the anti-climax came after samples collected from different locations failed to corroborate the use of sub-standard material. In fact, commuters find the six-lane access-controlled expressway, which was completed in a record 22 months, among the best in the country.
Meanwhile, no probe has been ordered into the ambitious Metro rail project, but it has yet to open for commute.
Sources alleged that even though the first phase of the 8km Metro had been completed, its final clearance for commercial use was being held back deliberately by the central government, which did not want ex-CM Akhilesh to hog the limelight.
"As such its inauguration was deferred to ensure that the BJP government only gets all the credit," a retired Metro official said.
The Adityanath government had also thought of bringing yet another pet project of Akhilesh - the international cricket stadium - under the scanner. But after it was pointed out that the stadium was built under a public-private partnership, the probe was called off.
However, like the Metro, the stadium too was not inaugurated even though it was complete and ready for hosting international matches.
It is learnt that the chief minister has made up his mind to put on hold all projects and schemes initiated by the previous government in its last days.
"Status reports have been sought in all such projects that were started between the months of January and March 2017," an official said. "The projects likely to be affected would be those in which less than 20 per cent work was undertaken so far," he added.
Incidentally, the Purvanchal expressway, which aims to connect Lucknow to Ballia, may be exempted from the chief minister's probe as it would be crucial for enhancing commercial activity on the grossly neglected eastern districts of UP, including Gorakhpur, Adityanath's "karmbhoomi".
The proposed expressway, initiated by Akhilesh shortly before the fall of his government, was envisaged as a lap that would fast-track the connectivity between the easternmost corner of UP with Delhi, since Lucknow-Agra and Agra-Noida routes were already connected with world-class expressways.
Alleging nepotism and absence of objectivity in the sanctions, the Adityanath government had discontinued the disbursement of Samajwadi pension, meant to serve as nominal social security (Rs 500-750 a month) for the old and infirm.
Another monthly pension of Rs 50,000, sanctioned by the Akhilesh regime to all Padma and Yash Bharti (state-level honours) awardees, also stands suspended.
However, the probe failed to make any headway, thereby leading to acute financial distress to the poor and needy beneficiaries.
With the recently launched probes by Adityanath, what remains a million-dollar question is whether the intent behind the investigations is to indeed nail the culprits, or is it one of those high-pitched dramas solely aimed at building a hype to settle short-term political scores?