UP PAC seeks details on ₹675-cr overspend in Noida Dalit Prerna Sthal project

The committeeduring a discussion in Lucknow on Wednesday raised objections to the alleged overspending of ₹675 crore for the park against an approved budget of ₹80 crore, said officials.

The Uttar Pradesh government’s public accounts committee (PAC) has sought details of the alleged irregularities in the construction of Noida’s Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden in Sector 95, officials said on Friday.

The project has been surrounded with controversies after allegations of overspending and cutting of around 1,000 trees. (Sunil Ghosh /HT PHOTO)

According to sources, the committeeduring a discussion in Lucknow on Wednesday raised objections to the alleged overspending of ₹675 crore for the park against an approved budget of ₹80 crore.

The 36 acre-park, located on the Delhi-Noida border near the Okhla bird sanctuary, was opened to the public in 2013. The project has been surrounded with controversies after allegations of overspending and cutting of around 1,000 trees, said officials.

Chief executive officer of the Noida authority, Lokesh M, told HT on Friday: “There are certain objections about this project, and these have to be resolved. We will do the needful in this regard as per the rules.”

According to the rules, officials said, the PAC can question the authority about the projects where it finds any anomaly, and the authority has to submit a reply with documents to resolve the objections.

Earlier in 2017, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had also flagged irregularities in the release of funds for the project. The CAG report came after the UP government in 2017 ordered an audit of all three industrial bodies — Noida, Greater Noida, and the Yamuna Expressway industrial development authority (Yeida) since 2007.

In April 2012, the then UP government had also sought a report from the Noida authority about the construction of the park. The authority had in its report stated that ₹675 crore were funded by the Noida’s taxpayers, said officials.

Additionally, the Noida authority’s chief executive officer, Amit Mohan Prasad, had in July, 2017 directed its staff to probe into projects executed by state agency Rajkiya Nirman Nigam in the city in the previous years.

The action came after allegations that the Noida authority paid more than the approved amount for various projects, including Dalit Prerna Sthal, between 2007 and 2012, said officials. However, the authority did not share the final outcome of this probe, they added.