He was Mayawati’s blue-eyed boy and now he has migrated to Uttarakhand to “advise” the Congress government.
Chhatra Pal Singh, former managing director of the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN) that was responsible for majority of the parks and memorials built in the Mayawati regime and now the adviser (infrastructure) in the Uttarakhand government, has been served notices by the UP Economic Offences Wing (EOW) that is probing financial irregularities in the Maya regime.
The UP Lokayukta is also probing three cases of corruption against him.
“We have received complaints that he doled out contracts worth `2,500 crores in the Mayawati regime on a back-to-back basis for the construction of parks and memorials. Besides, he is known to have approved the purchases of stones and their transportation on rates much higher than the prevailing market rates. We have also received a complaint about his having acquired property that is in excess to his disclosed sources of income,” said an official in the Lokayukta office.
An EOW official said that C.P. Singh had not been responding to their notices and is not making himself available for questioning. “We will now opt for legal action to ensure that he comes to the interrogation table,” the official said.
According to official sources, Mr Singh had sanctioned the purchase of elephant statues erected in the parks at an exorbitant rate of `48 lakhs each when the actual cost was around `7 lakhs each.
A huge scam has also been unveiled in the purchase of decorative lights for the parks that were imported from Brazil at highly inflated rates.
Ms Mayawati, as chief minister, had granted a two-year extension to C.P. Singh as managing director of UPRNN which proves his proximity with BSP leaders.
Interestingly, C.P. Singh’s appointment as adviser by the Congress government in Uttarakhand is equally intriguing considering the fact that the Congress leadership had scream itself hoarse about corruption in the BSP regime.
Highly-placed sources said that C.P. Singh has got his appointment through a senior UP Congress leader and his former aides claim that he had reportedly paid a hefty sum for it.
The BJP leaders in Uttarakhand had strongly protested against he appointment of C.P. Singh in the hill state but Singh used the offices of some journalists in Lucknow to convince the local BJP leaders that they should stop protesting. Though Singh’s ministerial status was taken back, he continues to enjoy a ‘fruitful’ tenure there.