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Amid crackdown, UP releases funds for upkeep of Maya parks
In the midst of arrest and suspension of officials associated with the commissioning of parks and memorials built in Noida and Lucknow by former chief minister Mayawati, there is some relief.
In the midst of arrest and suspension of officials associated with the commissioning of parks and memorials built in Noida and Lucknow by former chief minister Mayawati, there is some relief.
The state government has decided to keep paying monthly salaries to a massive manpower of about 6,000 employees, at least till March next year. The government has allocated Rs. 65 crore under the head.
Mayawati built Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden in Noida at the cost of Rs. 657 crore.
About 180 employees who maintain this 35-hectare park had been apprehensive about their future ever since the government launched crackdown against financial irregularities committed during the commissioning of these projects.
The Noida authority pays a monthly bill (on an average) of Rs. 3.5 lakh to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) that had sanctioned a 400 KV power connection to the park.
Apart from those in Lucknow, Mayawati also built two parks at her native village Badalpur in Greater Noida — Ambedkar Park and Gautam Buddha Park.
Spread over in 14 hectares, these two parks cost about Rs. 140 crore and bout 80 employees maintain them.
But the government has cut down on the maintenance expenditure drastically.
Rs. 1 crore has been allocated for the maintenance of these parks and memorials. The Maya government had announced Rs. 175 crore under this head.
The state government on Monday suspended 16 officials of the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN), which commissioned Mayawati's dream projects, for their alleged involvement in a multi-crore scam in the construction of one of the memorials.
Police investigations have also revealed that crores of rupees were embezzled in sourcing elephant statues in Lucknow and transporting them to Noida.
The Noida park - which has 15 statues of Dalit 'icons', including two of former CM, and 20 of elephants - was inaugurated by Mayawati in 2011 but is yet to be opened to public. The elephant is the party symbol of Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party.
Officially, about Rs. 6,000 crore was spent on the construction of these structures at nine different locations in Lucknow, Noida and Greater Noida.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has alleged a financial fraud to the tune of Rs. 40,000 crore could emerge in installation of statues of elephants and also stone memorials by the previous Mayawati government.
