Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the head of the opposition in the Bihar assembly, was accused of financial violations by Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Tuesday. He said that during Tejashwi's tenure as minister of road building, unapproved payments of more than Rs 26 crore were paid for the construction of three roads in the Gaya division.
The deputy chief minister told reporters here on Tuesday that irregularities and illegal payments were discovered during the investigation of the construction of three roads: the Jamuaama-Shevtar (17km) for Rs 2,551 lakh, the Wazirganj-Tapovan (19km) for Rs 3,338 lakh, and the Bhindas-Chamandiha (21km) for Rs 1,809 lakh. "The contract for these three roads was given to Raja Construction," he stated.
"The contractor applied to the department for additional transportation costs, claiming that there were no stone chips available from Manpur, Gaya, and that they had to source them from Pakur, Jharkhand," said Sinha, who is also the minister of the road building department. After departmental approval, more than Rs 26 crore was paid for the increased transportation expenses. This payment was made while the road construction minister was in office.
According to the deputy chief minister, a probe was mandated after suspicions were raised over the purchase of stone chips from Pakur, Jharkhand. "It is evident from the Pakur, Jharkhand, district mining officer's report that stone chips were not provided for these roads. According to the audit, the government lost more than Rs 26 crore as a result of cooperation between the contractor and departmental engineers. He declared, "This is a very serious matter."
Without the assistance of some officials, Sinha continued, it is improbable that the contractor would have the gall to submit such a sizable illegal bill. "All of the work done by Raja Construction, Gaya, will be investigated. Additionally, the contractor's guards will be identified," he stated.
According to RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari, Tejashwi was laying out his plan for the next government, and as his acceptance and popularity grew, the BJP began to panic and turn to its tried-and-true methods.
"These baseless and illogical accusations and counter-accusations have persisted since 2017." Without the appropriate authorization, no deputy CM would approve monies," he stated.
"Any culpable parties should be dealt with by the government, which is in charge from the center to Bihar. We confront them. The government is talking about corruption, but it has two engines: one for corruption and the other for crime. Nothing was proven against Tejashwi despite a lot of accusations and investigations. "These statements are completely false," he declared.