E-Paper
UP’s welcome gate, MP’s address; notice served
A welcome gate for UP was mistakenly built in MP, 4 km from the border, raising concerns over fund misuse and prompting an investigation.
An entry gate to welcome people entering Uttar Pradesh (UP) from the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh (MP) that should be on the UP soil was erected instead in the MP side.
The case is of an entry gate at NH-75 on the Jhansi-Gwalior Road. During a progress review of the work in May last year, it was found that the gate fell on Madhya Pradesh’s land, located some 4 km away from the UP border.
The UP government had decided, in 2021, to erect welcome gates with lighting and other arrangements at all entry points on state borders. UP shares border with Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, apart from an international border with Nepal. Many entry points already had gates and the plan was to make set up welcome gates where there were none.
One of the gates, out of total 104 sanctioned/planned, was to be made in Jhansi that shares border with Madhya Pradesh. Against an estimate of ₹1.33 crore, ₹33 lakh was sanctioned and the work also began.
According to the notice issued by the office of chief engineer Jhansi division AK Dubey, the selection of the spot was incorrect. Despite attempts, Dubey could not be contacted for his comment.
“The Jhansi unit of the National Highway Authority of India had objected to the selection of the spot for the gate. Despite this, the work was initiated and this resulted in to the inappropriate use of fund,” a notice to the executive engineer of Public Works Department (PWD) in Jhansi said. An estimate of the loss to state exchequer has been demanded by the chief engineer of Jhansi division.
As probe was initiated and responsibilities were about to be fixed, those responsible (for the incorrect gate construction) started approaching the higher ups in UP PWD. The matter came to light and on January 23, the head of UP PWD Sanjay Pratap Singh issued a letter to the chief engineer Jhansi region asking why PWD officials from Jhansi (Nirman Khand-I) were frequenting the headquarters.
