ED raids AAP leader and former Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj’s house, action in hospital construction scam

New Delhi: ED is raiding 13 locations of Aam Aadmi Party leader and former minister Saurabh Bhardwaj. Raids are also going on at his house. Delhi’s Anti-Corruption Branch had registered a case against former health ministers Saurabh Bhardwaj and Satyendra Jain in June, alleging large-scale corruption in projects related to health infrastructure during the AAP government. ED had registered a case in the case in July.

The role of two health ministers of AAP’s tenure, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Satyendra Jain, is under investigation in the alleged scam of Rs 5,590 crore. According to ED, in 2018-19, the Aam Aadmi Party government had approved 24 hospital projects. The plan was to prepare ICU hospitals within six months, but it is claimed that the work has not been completed yet, while more than Rs 800 crore has been spent. Only 50% of the work has been completed so far.

The ED also found that the construction cost at the Delhi government’s Lok Nayak Hospital increased from Rs 488 crore to Rs 1,135 crore. The agency alleges that construction work was started in many hospitals without proper approval. The ACB had said in its statement that hospital projects were approved in the year 2018-19, which included 11 greenfield and 13 brownfield projects.

The case registered by the ACB said that huge irregularities, unreasonable delays and large-scale misappropriation of funds have come to light in the construction of hospitals, polyclinics and ICU infrastructure across the city. According to the report, cost escalation of several hundred crores of rupees was recorded and not a single project was completed within the stipulated time frame.