Delhi BJP asks police to book those involved in construction of classrooms at inflated rates

Leaders of the BJP's Delhi unit Tuesday filed a police complaint seeking registration of an FIR against officials and contractors involved in the construction of classrooms of Delhi government schools at rates "five times" higher than the usual cost.

The Delhi unit of the party had Monday claimed that there was a Rs 2,000 crore "scam" in construction of classrooms by the ruling AAP government.

The complaint, filed by Delhi BJP media relation head Neelkant Bakshi and spokesperson Harish Khurana, asked the police to book persons responsible for the "scam" - whether it was against ministers, officials or contractors.

The complaint was filed with the New Delhi district police.

Citing an RTI reply, Tiwari had on Monday claimed that the AAP government constructed 12,782 classrooms at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore and this could have been done by spending just Rs 800 crore.

He had also demanded the resignation of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who is incharge of Education department.

The AAP dispensation reacted sharply to the charge with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Sisodia both challenging the BJP to arrest them if they thought there was any "scam" in construction of classrooms.

Sisodia had challenged Tiwari to get him arrested or apologise to people for lying to them.

Khurana, whose RTI query provided ammunition to the BJP, said the Delhi government spent Rs 24.86 lakh on construction of each classroom.

Reacting to this, Sisodia claimed that the BJP ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation recently came up with a proposal to construct 43 rooms in a school at a cost of Rs 10.73 crore, which meant Rs 24.95 lakh were earmarked as expenditure for each classroom.

In a tweet, Khurana said Sisodia's maths was weak and asserted that the per square feet rate of SDMC classrooms was Rs 2,784 as compared to Rs 8,800 in case of Delhi government schools.

"And also in MCD, two toilet blocks and staircase is included in this cost ... so better AAP govt should remove Sisodia for a free and fair enquiry ...And sisodia should not look for excuse but should explain his corruption," Khurana said in another tweet.