New Delhi: AAP protests at Dwarka Expressway over scam

New Delhi : The AAP on Wednesday protested at the under-construction Dwarka Expressway here after the Comptroller Auditor General of India reportedly flagged the huge cost escalation in the construction of the expressway. Several party leaders and workers, including chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar and Reena Gupta, gathered near the Dwarka Expressway Highway, alleging that the project is a ‘scam’.

“This is such a big scam that the road, for which an approval of Rs 18 crore per km was given, was built at a cost of Rs 251 crore. The central government calls itself honest whereas the fact is they are all corrupt. The CAG report proves it,” Kakkar told PTI.

According to media reports, the CAG audit report on the implementation of Phase-I of the ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’ highway projects flagged how the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) decision to go for an elevated carriageway on the Haryana portion of the Dwarka Expressway pushed up the construction cost to Rs 251 crore per kilometer from Rs 18.2 crore per kilometer. AAP leader Adil Ahmed Khan dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the “most corrupt” political outfit.

“Is the Centre trying to build golden roads with that amount of money? BJP is the most corrupt party the country has ever seen. The people of this country have decided to oust the party from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” he claimed. Party MLA Kuldeep Kumar, who also participated in the protest, claimed that the CAG report has “awakened the citizens” and that they are “outraged” about it.

“The CAG report has exposed the BJP and awakened the citizens. No matter how much they highlight their so-called achievements, people now know that it is all a lie. The entire party is neck deep in corruption,” he said. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government has “broken all records of corruption”. Referring to the report, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh had mentioned that under the ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’, a total of 75,000 kilometers of roads were to be constructed at the rate of Rs 15 crore per kilometer.

“But the Modi government increased the cost to Rs 25 crore per kilometer,” he alleged. However, the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has rejected the charge, calling it “gross misrepresentation of facts”. It said the factual position of the cost per kilometer is that in approval of the Bharatmala Pariyojana, as such project-wise cost was not approved. “It only provided overall outlay for the programme.