Rs 65 Lakh Street Light Scam: Just 5 Villages Out Of 26 Found To Be Lit Under Project

Earlier this week, the vigilance bureau had booked Captain Sandeep Sandhu, a senior Congress leader and former political secretary to ex-chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, in a ₹65 lakh LED streetlight scam.

As the events kept unfolding, the vigilance came about with the findings that out of the grants that were allocated for the installation of streetlights across 26 villages of the Dakha sub-division, only five areas were lit. These, too, were found to be lights with poor quality standards.

Pocketing Government Grants

As per the proposed plan, around 890 streetlights were to be installed in the subdivision. The government had the prices for each streetlight capped at ₹3,325, but the LED streetlights bought under the project cost about ₹7,288 per unit. As quoted from the Hindustan Times, a senior official said, "The payments were released to the company before installation of streetlights in the village".

Even after the grants were approved, many of these street lights existed only on paper or else were of substandard quality. The materials used for the lights were of cheap quality, and instead of the 65W LED lamps, low quality 45W lights were installed. The findings came about after a vigilance team was sent to the Sidhwan Bet villages to analyse the situation.

The probe revealed that out of the 26 villages under the proposed grants, barely five villages were installed with streetlights. A case of misappropriation of government grants was then filed. This follows in line with an earlier inquiry that was conducted by the district administration after many villagers had complained of poor quality and slow pace of installation.

Responses From Political Power Players

Many Congress leaders from Ludhiana came out in support of Sandeep Sandhu. Ravneet Singh Bittu, Member of Lok Sabha, condemned the chief minister Bhagwant Mann and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for vendetta politics.

He claimed that the cases filed against Congress were merely political tactics to cover up the ruling government's failure to maintain law and order in the state.

Responding to the allegations about the law and order situation, the Chief Minister shifted the blame on the previous government and said that "We are looking forward to a major industry boost here for which it is mandatory to curb all such activities and thus strict action will be taken in this regard".

Bhagwant Singh also said that the former government would have to bear the consequences of their deeds. He assured that the current government will be legally taking action against the Congress leader involved in the scam and that they are free to approach the high court or the apex court.

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