8-, 2003 - 28: 0
Mayawati approved commencement of work on Taj Corridor

New Delhi: UP's outgoing Chief Minister Mayawati was involved in the go-ahead for the controversial Rs 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor project, according to investigations by CBI.

The CBI, which is probing the scam on the orders of the Supreme Court, has put together the sequence of events leading to commencement of the work to construct the corridor on the banks of river Yamuna behind Taj Mahal in Agra.

According to CBI, a file was sent to Mayawati through her Environment Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui to obtain her approval for commencement of the work. Her approval was conveyed by P L Punia, her Principal Secretary.

Siddiqui had directly sent a file to Mayawati seeking her approval for commencement of work on the project without routing it through the Chief Secretary. The file is understood to have contained a noting that the Chief Secretary had approved the decision of the Mission Management Board for immediate commencement of work at the project site.

Advocate Krishan Mahajan, appointed as Court Commissioner by the apex court for matters pertaining to Taj Trapezium zone, had informed the court that the project was undertaken by National Project Construction Corporation on behalf of the UP Government without any statutory approval and without any work orders being awarded to it.

CBI appears to be in prima facie agreement with Mahajan's allegation as one of the top officials of NPCC had stated to the agency that it had started the work on being verbally asked by R K Sharma, the then Environment Secretary of the State Government.