The move comes two days after BJP legislator O P Sharma and a party leader, Vivek Garg, lodged a complaint at the ACB office alleging a scam of nearly Rs 15 crore in the project and sought prosecution under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act for the alleged conspiracy.
Special Commissioner of Police and ACB chief, M K Meena, said: “Teams have been sent to procure certain documents on the basis of the received complaint.”
Delhi Transport Minister Satyendar Jain refuted the allegation and said that the tender was worth Rs 3.91 crore and the payment made to contractor amounted to Rs 3.1 crore but the BJP MLA claimed to have somehow discovered a Rs 15 crore scam.
The raid on PWD office by the graft checking body has agitated Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who has called it another tactic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intimidate the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Sisodia said: “ACB has raided the office of PWD in connection with the dismantling of BRT Corridor.”
He went on to say: “I was the first one who hammered the notorious BRT to dismantle it on public request. I will not shy away from going to jail for fulfilling public’s demand.”
The dismantling of the 6.20-km long BRT Corridor started this January. Scrapping of the Rs 180-crore traffic project built in 2008 was one of the poll promises of Aam Aadmi Party which took a jibe at the Sheila Dikshit-government for alleged copy-paste work.
The BRT Corridor was built between the stretch of Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand. Placed in middle of the road, it was supposed to be the resting point for those who wait for public transport bus.
However, it caused a great deal of inconvenience to motorists and vehicle owners, as they were bound to face traffic jams created due to the reduction of road space. By demolishing the BRT Corridor, the AAP government has reduced the commutation time by at least 45 minutes for South Delhi residents travelling to other parts of NCR.