50% allotted to roads swindled: PC

Home minister P Chidambaram has said laying of roads is the "biggest swindle" in the country today.

Home minister P Chidambaram has said laying of roads is the "biggest swindle" in the country today.

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"No more than 50% of the contracted amount is actually spent on the roads," Chidambaram told NDTV in an interview in Davos. He was asked what was the best estimate of the government's spending for the poor actually reaches the poor.

"(It) depends...programme wise... laying of roads, now, is the biggest swindle - a swindle (of) as much as 50%."

Chidambaram, however, said, "in NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), in the well-run states, I think the leakage is no more than 5%. So I think it depends on programme to programme."

He added that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan "delivers well" as "we have got new schools, new classrooms, more teachers, more books a library."