Unfazed by the criticism against "overspending" on parks, statues and memorials, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has once again allocated nearly Rs 500 crore towards her dream projects in the Rs 5,461 crore supplementary budget, which was tabled before the state assembly on Tuesday.
While a large chunk of the allocation (Rs 409 crore) has been allotted for the sprawling 190-acre Kanshi Ram Eco Park, which will be built in place of the Lucknow district jail, a portion of the funds has been earmarked for three ongoing projects to commemorate the contribution of BSP founder Kanshi Ram and Dalit leader Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.
In contrast to this lavish spending, the budget has allotted merely Rs 3.5 crore for the development of Amethi district -- a project that was announced two months ago, essentially to spite Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who has made the district his political bastion lately.
Mayawati's declaration to upgrade Amethi and renaming it as Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj district had hit the Congress leadership, as it gave her an opportunity to deride the Gandhi family and accuse them of "failing to show desired concern for the development of the area".
Prior to Rahul, the Amethi parliamentary constituency was represented by his father Rajiv Gandhi and much earlier by his uncle Sanjay Gandhi.
However, while tabling the budget, Finance Minister Lalji Verma did not focus on Amethi. In fact, apart from construction of a few residential quarters for officials and a small building for treasury, the state has made token allocations of mere Rs 1,000 for several other heads including infrastructure.
Significantly, around Rs 23.82 crore has been earmarked as overhead charges to be paid to the government agency engaged in the construction of Kanshiram Memorial (Manyavar Shri Kanshiramji Samarak Sthal), while Rs 48.22 crores has been set aside for Ambedkar Memorial (Dr Bhimrao Amedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal).
A sum of Rs 8.46 crore has been allocated for giving a facelift to the exteriors of Dr Bhimrao Amedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal.
It may be recalled that Mayawati, while justifying the allocation of over Rs 6,000 crore for the memorials in the earlier budget, had asserted that the expenses towards the monuments was not more than one percent of the state's annual budget.
Meanwhile, in a press statement issued on Tuesday evening, the state government has clarified that the budget allocation towards the monuments was in no way "any violation of the Supreme Court order" which has suspended all construction activity at the Ambedlar memorial.
"The budget has been earmarked only for giving a facelift to the exterior of the monument and not for carrying out any work inside the premises" claimed an official spokesman.
