The Congress on Monday demanded that Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari be sacked for awarding the Rs 10,050-crore Zojila Pass Project in Jammu and Kashmir to a company in which, they claimed, his son is a director. The Congress insisted that Gadkari had business dealings with the Dattatreya Mhaiskar, the head of IRB Infrastructure Developers, to whom the contract was awarded. They also claimed that the company had invested crores in Gadkari’s family businesses. The Union Minister later denied all the claims, Economic Times reported.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh had written to the Central Vigilance Commission saying Gadkari had violated the CVC’s guidelines while awarding the contract. Singh claimed only IRB Infrastructure Developers had bid on the project, which was unusual. As per protocol, the government was supposed to also invite third parties to bid on a project if only one company has shown interest in it.
Singh called it “corruption at the highest level”, and added that Gadkari had favoured the firm even when he was the Public Works Department Minister in the Maharashtra Government.
Gadkari, however, said that the ministry had followed the transparent e-tender system, and neither he nor his son had any connections with the company. The tunnel project, one of Asia’s longest, is part of the Rs 80,000-crore package Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in November to boost Jammu and Kashmir’s infrastructure.
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