Patna: Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha on Tuesday levelled grave accusations against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and the leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, for financial irregularities. He alleged that unauthorised payments exceeding Rs 26 crore were made for constructing three roads in the Gaya division while Tejashwi served as road construction minister. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, the deputy CM said that irregularities and illegal payments were found during the investigation of the construction of three roads – the Bhindas-Chamandiha (21km) amounting to Rs 1,809 lakh, the Wazirganj-Tapovan (19km) with a contract amount of Rs 3,338 lakh and the Jamuaama-Shevtar (17km), amounting to Rs 2,551 lakh. Raja Construction was awarded the contract for these three roads, he said. Sinha, who is also the minister of the road construction department, said, “The contractor applied to the department for additional transportation costs, claiming unavailability of stone chips from Manpur, Gaya, and instead sourcing them from Pakur, Jharkhand. This was approved at the departmental level and over Rs 26 crore were paid as additional transportation costs. This payment was made during the tenure of the then minister of road construction.” The deputy CM said that upon suspicion regarding the procurement of stone chips from Pakur, Jharkhand, an investigation was ordered. “The district mining officer of Pakur, Jharkhand, clearly reported that stone chips were not supplied for these roads. The report revealed that due to collusion between the contractor and departmental engineers, the govt incurred a financial loss of over Rs 26 crore. This is a very serious matter,” he said. Sinha added that the audacity of the contractor to present such a large illegal bill seems unlikely without the involvement of some officials. “An investigation will be conducted into all works done by Raja Construction, Gaya. The protectors of the contractor will also be identified,” he said. Meanwhile, RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said Tejashwi was outlining his blueprint for the upcoming govt and as his popularity and acceptance among the public increased, the BJP started panicking and resorting to the same old tactics. “These accusations and counter-accusations have been ongoing since 2017 and they are baseless and nonsensical. No deputy CM would sign off on funds without proper authorisation,” he said. “The govt, in power from Centre to Bihar, should take action against any guilty parties. We challenge them. The govt, which has one engine of corruption and another engine of crime in its double-engine setup, is talking about corruption. Despite numerous accusations and investigations, nothing was proven against Tejashwi. These claims are entirely untrue,” he said.
