CAG audit of Noida, Gr Noida authorities to expose skeletons in UP cupboard

The decision of the Yogi Adityanath government to recommend CAG audit in the functioning of cash-rich Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities has spelt fresh trouble for some top bureaucrats and senior officials who headed these bodies under the previous Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav governments.

Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) has also come under the purview of the CAG audit. Apart from officials, top political figures could also find themselves mired in controversy for their insistence on posting their choice of officers to head these authorities or over their alleged role in corruption.

The CBI is already probing Noida land deals for alleged kickbacks and shady transactions, while its suspended chief engineer Yadav Singh is already cooling heals in jail even as the investigations continue.

Yesterday, UP Industries Minister Satish Mahana had said CAG was a trusted and critical central agency, which works with transparency and that to expose inherent corruption in the previous government, it was imperative to get all the development authorities audited by CAG. Mahana said the Yogi government was taking all necessary steps to rid the state of corruption.

Meanwhile, UP principal secretary (industrial development) Alok Sinha has already issued an order for the CAG audit of these agencies.

Earlier, the Yogi government had ordered a Vigilance probe against senior serving bureaucrat Amit Ghosh for alleged irregularities in awarding tenders while serving as the UPSIDC managing director. Ghosh has been alleged to have been involved in embezzlement of public funds in awarding contracts worth Rs 1,100 crore in the Trans-Ganga City (Kanpur) and Saraswati Hi-tech City (Allahabad) projects.

Ghosh was posted as MD on August 2, 2016, by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, but was shunted by the Yogi government on April 14, 2017 after coming to power. The probe was ordered on a complaint by UPSIDC chief engineer Arun Mishra, who is himself facing a CBI probe for corruption. Both the senior officials have traded charges.

On April 12, in its first major bureaucratic reshuffled, the Yogi dispensation had transferred 20 IAS officers, benching some of the blue eyed bureaucrats of the previous Akhilesh regime.

It included the transfer of cash-rich Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) in the National Capital Region (NCR). The state government had also transferred Rama Raman, who was chairman Noida besides principal secretary UP infrastructure and industrial development and NRI departments; Deepak Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Greater Noida and Noida; and Vijay Kumar Yadav, vice-president Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA).

While, there have been allegations of last scale corruption in the land deals in Noida and Greater Noida spanning the two previous SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) regimes, the Yadav Singh case continues to make headlines for kickbacks and award of land deals in contravention of rules.

In later transfers also, officers posted in these cash rich authorities were shifted to other places.