Sidhu orders CBI probe into LED light scam

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 6

Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the alleged scam reported in the LED light project.

He has also sought a third party review of the project.

The Rs 274-crore project, which was conceptualised to install over 65,000 LED lights in the city, was mired into controversy since the beginning.

Congress councillor Rohan Sehgal, who has already locked horns with the LED company, has alleged that the company had been installing substandard lights at double the rates as compared to the infrastructure installed in Ludhiana.

Sehgal had even met Sidhu recently and apprised him of the alleged misuse of funds in connivance with MC officials.

Following this, Sidhu called a review meeting of the senior officials of the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, in Chandigarh and ordered a CBI probe into the matter.

The councillor has also claimed that for the project, the MC is going to open an escrow account in which they are supposed to keep Rs 3 crore for all the time, the source of which would be revenue generated from various taxes.

“ In fact, the MC has already paid a sum of Rs 40 lakh. I want to know which committee will evaluate what we are getting from the company, who is verifying the quality as well as standard of the street lights”, asked Sehgal.

The councillor has even made a representation to the MC in which he has mentioned: “The company is installing a new product and after installation, they will charge Rs 66.90 per light every month, which amounts to Rs 5.22 crore in the first year with an escalation of 5 per cent every year. I have gone through a recent tender of LED lights floated by the MC which says that for five years, maintenance of the lights would be done by the contractor for free. Even the lights which we are getting in MPLADS fund come with two years of free maintenance by the contractor. The company is likely to sell us their assembled product and charge Rs 66 crore over 10 years for maintenance.”

Sehgal has put forward his request to immediately stop the formation of the escrow account and rather form a committee to review the project allotted during the SAD-BJP regime.