LoP Gupta alleges Rs 100 cr scam in LED procurement; submits complaint to CBI

New Delhi: With the Delhi Assembly polls set to be announced any time now, Opposition Leader MLA Vijender Gupta on Tuesday met with the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation and filed a corruption complaint against officials of the Delhi government, alleging a Rs 100 crore scam in the procurement of LED street lights for lighting up the city's dark spots.

Gupta visited Director Rishi Kumar Shukla along with BJP MLA OP Sharma and BJP leaders Kapil Mishra and Anil Bajpai to hand the complaint personally. According to the opposition leaders, the Delhi Government had allegedly flouted norms of normal administrative procedures in procuring and distributing the LED street lights for the Capital.

The complaint alleges that the Delhi Government unauthorisedly allocated a budget os Rs 100 crore to DISCOMS for the project, ignoring the accepted procedure of letting local corporation bodies implement such projects.

Gupta and the other BJP leaders said that the areas where these lights were to be installed fell under the jurisdiction of the North, South and East

Municipal Corporations of Delhi and that despite this the Delhi Government went ahead to direct its Public Works Department to continue with the project.

However, the complaint alleges that when the PWD declined to continue with the project, the state government in Delhi went ahead to allocate budget to private players. Claiming that there is no precedent for commissioning private players for such a project, the opposition leaders have filed a complaint with the CBI. These leaders also requested the central agency to investigate how the budget of Rs 100 crore was allegedly allocated to DISCOMS. The AAP, however, hit back, saying the BJP is running a "factory of lies".