• Smt. Supriya Shrinate

In the last few days, what one has seen are not one, not two, not three, but seven such cases that the CAG has brought to light, India’s Chief Auditor has brought to light, which smack of rampant corruption in this government where, scam-after-scam is being unearthed right under Mr. Modi’s nose. But Mr. Modi chooses to keep quiet. He makes all of them anti-national, he may even jail them, he may even raid them, but the reality is that it starts from the ‘Bharatmala’ project, where the cost of construction has doubled from 15.37 crore per kilometer, to over 32 crore per kilometer. The Dwarka expressway scam has come to light. The construction cost went up from Rs. 18 crore per kilometer to Rs. 250 crore per kilometer, to construct 2 kilometers of the Dwarka expressway. Rs. 500 crore is what it took a ‘Mangalyaan’ to go. The NHAI has looted common citizens of this country to the tune of Rs. 132 crores, only when 5 toll plazas were audited. Imagine if every toll plaza in this country is audited, what would the tune of this scam be?

Because of concession agreement, there is another hit of about Rs. 135 crores to the exchequer. The ‘Ayushman Bharat Scheme’ that the Prime Minister keeps talking about is the fourth such scheme that is addressed here. Seven and half lakh beneficiaries registered with one phone number, over 88,000 such patients who died during the treatment, fresh claims were issued and payments were made in their name. Who did that money go to? That’s the big question.

The ‘Ayodhya Development Project -where the land was bought at peanuts price and then sold at high prices to the trust-we now are discovering that the ‘Ayodhya Development Project’ is also riddled with scams. Money has been issued to contractors, who are not even registered; there is a GST payment that’s coming their way. Who are these people? What are they doing? How come the bidders, the tendering process is so flawed?

Talking about the Rural Development Ministry it has a provision of pension, and that pension go to the poor, those who are either physically disabled or it comes for the widows, or it goes to the old. All three pension schemes come under the Rural Development Ministry. Money from this was diverted, to put hoardings in 19 states and every district, on the ‘Swachh Bharat’ fortnight that the BJP celebrated.

HAL has also been pulled up for a flawed engine design, which cost the loss of about Rs. 154 crores. So, we have only very limited questions for the Prime Minister. Question number one, will you break your silence on the scams that are being unearthed by CAG right under your nose? You are the Chairman of the CCEA, the Cabinet Committee on Economy Affairs - are you going to open your mouth on the ‘Bharatmala’ Project, that’s so cost double? How will you act against the Road and the Surface Development Ministry, because there is a huge scam in Dwarka Expressway, we have all seen the NHAI loops? Will you act against the ‘Ayushman Bharat’, Ministry and Minister and ask them, how was money for beneficiaries diverted and where did that money go? Will you act against the ‘Ayodhya Development Project’ and inquire finally on the dodgy land deals, and also on the kind of money that was given to contractors, whose registration has been cancelled?

There was a time when every mention of the CAG made editors, anchors, reporters jump up in the air, may be with glee, but they asked questions. It’s another story that some of those CAG reports have come to be absolutely false and politically motivated. But the reality is that today the media is quiet; there is not one, not two, but seven CAG scams that have been unearthed and the Prime Minister stays silent. Why don’t I see any discussion today? What money does CAG audit? Whatever this money is, this is the government’s expenditure. Where does the government’s expenditure come from - this is our money and yours, this is the public’s money, this is the lenders’ money, this is the taxpayers’ money and every person in this country pays taxes, through GST, through direct tax. The lowest 50 percent of the population is paying 64 percent GST. So, I feel that there should be a little ‘Wake Up, Media, Wake Up’ on this whole matter, it is necessary that that happens. But the silence of the government and most of the media will neither stop the scams nor our questions.

We believe that this is looting the exchequer; this is looting the people of India and action should be taken, but before action is taken, the Prime Minister needs to tell this country, why are people being allowed to take undue benefits of schemes meant for the poor, meant for the physically challenged, meant for the old, and also meant for the widows.

• CAG exposed 7 scams of Modi government - rigging is happening right under the nose of Prime Minister Modi; • Fraud in the bidding process of ‘Bharat Mala Project’, cost increased by 100 percent; • Huge rigging in Dwarka Expressway - the cost of building the road increased from Rs. 18 crore per kilometer to Rs. 250 crore per kilometer; • ‘Ayushman Bharat’ fraud involving payment showing dead people as alive and linking 7.5 lakh beneficiaries to a single number; • Scam of giving undue benefits to contractors in Ayodhya Development Project; • Violation of toll rules, NHAI wrongly collected Rs. 132 crores from passengers; • Serious allegations against HAL of defects in design-production of aircraft engines leading to loss of Rs. 159 crores; • The Ministry of Rural Development spent the money from old age, disabled and widow pension schemes in promoting other schemes;

1) Bharatmala Project CAG has exposed fraud in ‘Bharatmala’ project. Almost 100 percent increase in the cost of the road has also been revealed. The permission to fund this project is given by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which is chaired by the Prime Minister himself. In this project, CCEA had given approval to build 34,800 km of roads at a cost of Rs. 5,35,000 crores, but actually the contract was given for only 26,316 kms of highways, the approved cost of which was Rs. 8,46,588 crores. This means that the cost of projects approved by CCEA at Rs. 15.37 crore per km has more than doubled to Rs. 32.17 crore per km.

CAG has also highlighted irregularities in the bidding process. Successful bidders did not fulfil the conditions of the tender, selection was done on the basis of fake documents, work was allotted without detailed project report, funds diversion of around Rs. 3598.52 crores took place from the escrow account and at many places even security consultants were not hired. While walking on the road, you are responsible for your own life and property, this is not the job of the government.

2) Dwarka Expressway CAG exposed huge rigging in Dwarka Expressway and raised the question that how the cost of building the road reached Rs. 250 crore per kilometer, whereas the approved cost was only Rs. 18 crore per kilometer and the statement from the ministry could not explain what happened due to which the price increased by 1400 percent, i.e. 14 times. This cannot be done alone due to inflation, it reeks of commissioneering and corruption.

3) Toll robbery CAG has revealed the violation of toll rules and said that NHAI has wrongly collected Rs. 132 crores from passengers. This data came to the auditor’s attention only through the audit of 5 toll plazas. The CAG has also revealed that the revenue has suffered a loss of around Rs. 133 crores due to the NSAI concession agreement. If this audit is conducted for the entire country’s toll plazas, then it cannot even be estimated as to how much worth lakhs and crores of rupees’ embezzlement will be revealed!

4) Ayushman Bharat Scheme CAG has also exposed the rigging in the ‘Ayushman Bharat Scheme’ itself, in which payments have been made towards dead people by faking them being alive and has also exposed the fraud of linking 7.5 lakh beneficiaries with the same number. 88,760 patients died during treatment, but 2,14,923 claims related to them were paid after their death. As mentioned earlier, 7.5 lakh beneficiaries were shown linked to a single mobile number and around 4,761 registrations were shown linked to only 7 Aadhaar numbers. Actually, 1.24 crore fake beneficiaries were found linked to some 1.86 lakh numbers.

5) Ayodhya Development Project CAG has also exposed the scam of giving undue benefits to contractors in Ayodhya Development Project. A scam of giving undue benefits of about Rs. 19.73 crores to the contractors in Ayodhya Development Project has also come to light. The implementing agency i.e. Uttar Pradesh State Construction Corporation did not even deposit the full amount of performance guarantee while appointing the contractors. GST was paid to those contractors whose registration was cancelled, even as the Irrigation Department did not even do a comparative analysis of the rates proposed by the contractors.

6) Ministry of Rural Development CAG said that the Rural Development Ministry spent Rs. 2 crore 83 lakhs of its pension schemes in promoting other schemes of the Centre. With this money, three pensions are run - old age, disabled and widow pension. And imagine that in June 2017, the ministry invested the pension money in the publicity campaign of other schemes of the ministry. Then in August 2017, five hoardings were placed in every district of 19 states. Rs. 2.44 crores of pension were spent for the promotion of ‘Gram Samriddhi Swachh Bharat Pakhwada’.

7) HAL CAG has made serious allegations against HAL for flaws in the design and production of aircraft engines, causing a loss of Rs. 159 crores.

Direct questions to the Prime Minister:

• Will the Prime Minister break his silence on these scams happening right under his nose? • Will the Prime Minister take action against the rigging in the ‘Bharat Mala’ project being done under his direct supervision? • Will the Prime Minister take action against the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways? • Will the Prime Minister do anything about the fraud happening in ‘Ayushman Bharat’, will he find out where the money of the beneficiaries is going? • Will the Prime Minister try to find out why the Ministry of Rural Development is spending the budget allocated for disabled, old age and widow pension on the promotion of other schemes? • Will the Prime Minister try to find out who is responsible for the land embezzlement in Ayodhya and now the scam in the name of development project, who is giving undue benefits to the contractors?

There are only scams in the Modi government - and now the whole truth stands exposed. People have started talking about Modi Ji’s corruption. Everyone knows that the fake honesty they brag about, the painted image built and sustained by big fat money and publicity has been destroyed, washed away, ruined, but this organization has said something. This organization has said that such and such scam has taken place. Commissioneering, profiteering and looting of public money is being exposed by the CAG itself. There are provisions in it, the government should take this provision and work on it.

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of this country, is directly responsible for these scams and corruption and his accountability should be fixed. Whatever we have to do, we will definitely do it. This report has been tabled in the Parliament. We know Modi ji will not answer the questions, but CAG will be declared anti-national and there will definitely be a raid. The author is a chairperson of Social Media and Digital Platforms