The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), on Friday, demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Rs 60-Crore bus purchase and bus body building scam allegedly committed by former Transport Minister and incumbent Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
In a statement, former minister Sikander Singh Maluka said the corrupt activities of Raja Warring had been thoroughly exposed through a Right to Information (RTI) reply.
“It seems Raja Warring has crossed all limits of corruption. He not only allowed Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) to incur a loss of Rs 4 lakh each on bus body building charges of 840 buses but also has purchased the entire fleet of new buses at a cost price despite the fact that bus companies give a discount of up to Rs 4 lakh per bus on bulk orders running into hundreds of vehicles,” he said.
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Estimating a scam of around Rs 30 crore on each bus bodybuilding as well as the purchase of the 840 buses, Maluka said the entire case should be handed over to the CBI for a free and fair probe.
The SAD leader said the Congress leader had even disregarded low quotes of Rs 8.20 lakh and Rs 8.40 lakh per bus given by two companies engaged in bus body building in Punjab and had given the contract for bus body building of the entire fleet of 840 buses to a Jaipur-based company for Rs 11.98 lakh per bus.
“This caused a loss of nearly Rs 4 lakh per bus to the state exchequer. The Punjab government also lost Rs 1.51 crore in transporting the buses to Rajasthan as well as Rs 18 crore in taxes to the Rajasthan government,” Maluka.
He said the Punjab-based company that had quoted a rate of Rs 8.20 lakh per bus for bodybuilding charges had earlier built the body of 100 Rajasthan Roadways buses.
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