UP recommends CBI probe into Akhilesh's Gomti Riverfront Project

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the multi-crore Gomti Riverfront Project, one of the dream projects of his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav. A senior official from the state Home Department said that the file recommending a CBI probe into the matter had been sent the Ministry of Personnel and the hopefully, a probe would begin in the right earnest. The project was initially pegged at Rs 656 crore but its cost was revised to Rs 1,513 crore subsequently. At a review of the project, Adityanath had commented on how 90 per cent funds had been spent but work was still far from being completed. He had then rapped the Samajwadi Party government for the mess and said his government would not spare anybody who had plundered the state coffers and blown up people's hard-earned money on such a wasted and ill-executed project. He had also appointed retired Justice Alok Singh of the Allahabad High Court to probe the matter. Justice Singh submitted an exhaustive report to the government in June. Justice Singh found large scale irregularities and financial misappropriation in the project and also questioned the way of functioning of officials involved in the project. A committee was later formed by the Chief Minister, comprising Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna, Chairman of the Revenue Board Praveer Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Anoop Chandra Pandey and then Principal Secretary (Law) Ranganath Pandey, to fix responsibility of the guilty. If the CBI begins probe into the matter, many senior leaders in the Akhilesh government, including then Irrigation Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and two Chief Secretaries Alok Ranjan and Deepak Singhal, could find themselves in choppy waters, sources told IANS.