‘Misuse of funds’: Punjab vigilance team visits Jang-e-Azadi memorial site, gathers information
A day after kicking-off the probe into allegations of alleged misuse of funds, the sleuths of vigilance bureau (VB) conducted surprise checking at Jang-e-Azadi Memorial in Kartarpur, 18-km from district headquarters, on Tuesday.
A day after kicking-off the probe into allegations of alleged misuse of funds, the sleuths of vigilance bureau (VB) conducted surprise checking at Jang-e-Azadi Memorial in Kartarpur, 18-km from district headquarters, on Tuesday.
A team led by VB deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Jatinderjit Singh visited the memorial and stayed there for more than two hours to gather specific information on material used for construction of statues and other furniture purchased from government funds. The VB sleuths also gathered key record from department of water supply and sanitation.
Meanwhile, the VB has also summoned Ludhiana based contractor Deepak involved in the construction process to appear before it on March 16. Jalandhar range VB officials refused to share details about Tuesday’s visit but sources at VB headquarters stated that the team found certain discrepancies.
“The record showed that all types of interior work was done by Godrej company. It has been noticed that the logo of the company seems to falsely affixed at all types of furniture, racks, almirahs, sofa sets whereas these items like locally made. It is suspicious that logo of the company was affixed to misrepresent to show unfair expenditure,” said VB official privy to the investigation.
An official added that apart from their visit to the memorial, the team closely verified various statues of martyrs, Jallianwala massacre and animals installed in the memorial.
“It appears that the overpayment was done to the contractors to build these statues,” an official stated.
Meanwhile, the VB team also called XEN water supply and sewerage board Rajat Gopal on the spot and gathered record pertaining to purchase of air conditioners, setting up of rain water harvesting system, and sewerage treatment plant.
Senior superintendent of police (VB Jalandhar range) Rajeshwar Singh Sidhu though confirmed about VB team visiting the memorial site but he refused to any details regarding key observations. “The investigation is still on therefore no details could be divulged,” Sidhu said.
On Monday, the VB (Jalandhar range) summoned memorial’s managing committee secretary Lakhwinder Singh Johal to its office and questioned him for over two hours related to the financial execution of the project. Johal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
Sprawled in 25 acres of land, the mega project was started during SAD-BJP tenure, which dubbed it as their dream project. Dedicated to heroes of freedom struggle, the total estimated cost was ₹315 crore.
