BHUBANESWAR: Alleging huge corruption in construction of Gurupriya bridge in Malkangiri district, the State Congress on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the matter.Referring to the draft note of Principal Accountant General (PAG) that excessive provision was made for construction of the bridge which led to undue benefit of `74.19 crore for the contractor, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik said a CBI probe can bring out the truth about such huge irregularities.
Stating that the Government has misused public money for the benefit of the contractor before the General Elections, Patnaik said the image of Odisha has been tarnished in the entire country because of scams from purchase of dal to chit fund. The OPCC president alleged that before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the bridge on July 26, the PAG had written to the Government that Odisha Public Works Department (OPWD) norms have been violated during preparation of the project estimate.
Meanwhile, the State unit of BJP also criticised the Government for the large-scale irregularities in construction of the bridge. “The Government refused to revise the estimate to Rs 90.5 crore as demanded by Gammon India which was entrusted with the project in 2010. Why was it raised to `187 crore for Royal Infraconstru Limited?” questioned BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra.