Congress doing dirty politics over damaged Mahakal Lok’s statues: Bhupendra Singh
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Minister Bhupendra Singh on Tuesday said that Congress was doing dirty politics over the damage and collapse of statues in Mahakal Lok’s due to a heavy storm and its allegations of corruption in the construction of the corridor were baseless.
Addressing a press conference here on behalf of the state government, Urban Development and Housing Minister Singh said that there was no corruption taking place in the construction of the entire Mahakal Lok project.
The inquiry report of the divisional commissioner of Ujjain states that the six statues of Saptrishis placed at the Mahakal Lok collapsed and were damaged due to a strong squall.
Squall brought down and damaged six Saptrishi idols out of seven placed in the Mahakal Lok corridor on Sunday, around 100 statues were made with FRP (fibre-reinforced plastic). The Opposition Congress has accused the state government of corruption in the construction of the corridor.
“Congress is doing dirty politics over this matter and its allegations of corruption are baseless. The opposition has not submitted any facts related to the corruption.
No corrupt practice has taken place and there is 100 per cent transparency and quality in the construction of the Mahakal Lok”, the UAD Minister said.
“I challenge Congress if it has a single proof of corruption, it should put them before the media or the government otherwise they should seek forgiveness from the people of the state for it,” he said. Accusing Congress, Bhupendra Singh said that hurting the people’s religious sentiments has always been the character of the grand old party.
The Mahakal Lok project costing Rs 856 crore is being redeveloped on the premises of the Mahakaleshwar temple, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in the country, in Ujjain. The first phase worth Rs 351 crore was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11 last year.
Singh also said that his government brought the idea of the Mahakal Lok corridor in 2017 and acquired 100 acres of land for the project, and in 2018, Rs 200 crore was allotted to the district administration for compensation.
The minister said that if Congress talks about alleged corruption, then its government gave technical sanction and issued a work order to the agency in 2019, even more, the payments were also made two times by the Congress rule to the agency.
On asking about the agency name which has done the construction work of the corridor, Singh said a joint venture of Ms DH Patel and Gayatri Electrical of Gujrat has worked in the redevelopment project.
Giving the example of using the FRD for making idols, Singh said that for good and fined art, statues of it are installed at various places in the country as well as abroad.
He also said that as per the terms and conditions of the agreement, the agency will do maintenance work on the corridor for the next three years, and the government has instructed the company to reconstruct the statues as early as.
I challenge Congress if it has a single proof of corruption, it should put them before the media or the government