Gangtok, 27 Oct: Claiming Rs 4.95 crore were siphoned off from government funds, the Sikkim BJP today asked state chief secretary Mr TT Dorji to order filing of a criminal case against guilty officials and contractors.
“Officials and contractors had colluded to siphon off the money in the name of construction of a multi-span steel bridge over Teesta river at Gour in north Sikkim but the construction did not happen,” party vice-president Mr Padam Chettri told newsmen, adding it was loot of public money.
Quoting the reply of the Roads and Bridges Department to an RTI query, he claimed authorities have themselves conceded that 90 per cent of the proposed cost of the bridge was released to the contractors before the commencement of the construction work three years ago.
But, barring two concrete pillars on either end of the Teesta river, the bridge never came up and the entire money went into the pockets of corrupt officials and contractors, he alleged.
“But for RTI, the blatant case of swindling of public money would have been left hidden in the files,” he said.
Mr Chhetri claimed he has documentary evidence of another case of corruption in the construction of a proposed Rs 13-crore bridge at Singtam to connect south and east Sikkim in which one-third of the projected cost has already been released to the contractor without commencement of any work on the ground.
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