Crackdown on corruption, FIR in LED scam in UP
Lucknow: Continuing its crackdown on corruption, the Yogi Adityanath government, has lodged an FIR against six firms that had committed forgery in LED van operations in the state.
Two self styled journalists and the mastermind of the scam, Amit Shukla and Atul Shukla, have been arrested.
The FIRs have been lodged by the deputy director Information Department at the Hazratganj police station against Fiscon Media, Khenksa Advertising, Admire Publicity, Media Logics, Mateshwari Enterprises and Coxa Publicity.
According to sources, these firms had been assigned the task of running LED fitted vans in various districts to publicize the various welfare schemes of the state government.
The firms named in the FIRs apparently did not own any LED vans but procured the contracts, running into crores, by giving forged documents.
An inspection of transport documents revealed that the LED vans existed only on paper and dissemination of information was not being done at all.
A senior police official said that after the FIR and preliminary investigations, two persons had been arrested.
“It seems this is a major scam and some government employees in the information department could also be involved along with journalists in floating fake firms to obtain contracts. Further investigations will reveal the extent of the money involved in these forged operations,” said a senior police office.
Information department officials were unwilling to comment on the matter.
The state information department is responsible for publicizing the works of the government and acting as a bridge between the media and the government.
However, in the past few years, there has been a total breakdown between the chief minister and journalists and the state information department is increasingly relying on technology to publicize its schemes.
During the Akhilesh regime, the state information department started putting up huge LED screens in the state capital and then branched out with LED vans in districts and the rural interiors.