Nobody will be spared in NH scam: U'khand CM

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today said nobody will be spared in the Rs 240 crore national highway scam in the state and stressed the government may take a legal opinion on how to move forward on the issue.
Uttarakhand government has already written to the Centre asking for a CBI probe into the corruption in acquisition of land for a national highway in the state.
Talking to reporters after meeting Gadkari, Rawat said, "We have a policy of zero tolerance against corruption. The Minister (Gadkari) has also said that nobody should be spared if found guilty whether they are NHAI and state officials."

Senior National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials were also present on the occasion.
Rawat said the NHAI officials have told him that they had no role in the scam.
They said the fund is provided by the Authority but it is disbursed by the district committees, the chief minister said.

"If required the state government may take a legal opinion (how to go forward on the issue)," Rawat said.
NHAI chairman Y S Malik had raised the issue of alleged CBI officials harassing the Authority officials in the state which was impacting the highway works in the state, a source said.

In a press conference yesterday, Rawat had said that irregularities worth Rs 240 crore have been detected in the acquisition of farmland for the purpose of the proposed NH-74 in Udham Singh Nagar district between 2011-2016.
Farmland was shown as non-agricultural land to increase the compensation amount by at least 20 times to benefit chosen stakeholders and beneficiaries, he had said.
Terming it a "major scam", Rawat had said that he has sent his recommendations to the Centre for a CBI probe into the irregularities.
Six senior officials have been suspended over their suspected role in the scam.