In Basti, UP, engineers are accused of a scam worth crores of rupees in the name of dam repair by creating fake pictures with AI. More than 12 villages are at risk of flood due to this rigging. Investigation of the matter is ongoing.
Lucknow: You must have heard many stories of rigging in government work, but a case has come to light from Basti Mandal of Uttar Pradesh, which is an example of misuse of technology. The engineers here are accused of creating a big scam by using Artificial Intelligence (AI). To show works like cleaning of drains and repair of dams on paper, pictures were created with AI and bills worth crores were passed.
It is alleged that 26% of the budget for the repair of dams in the district, i.e. Rs 1 crore 3 lakh 81 thousand 62, was spent only on paper. In reality no work was done on the land. When this matter came to light, there was a stir in the entire department. This scam was revealed by BJP's Divisional General Secretary Amar Bahadur Singh. He has submitted a complaint letter to Basti Divisional Commissioner Akhilesh Singh. In this letter he has directly raised questions on the collusion of administrative officials and contractors.
What are the allegations made in the complaint?
Amar Bahadur Singh has written in his letter that a big budget was passed for the financial year 2025-26 for flood protection and repair of dams. But departmental officials and some special contractors together got a large part of this budget transferred to the account of only one subdivision (fourth subdivision). According to the complaint, this amount was withdrawn through different vouchers between August 19, 2025 and November 24, 2025, when the flood risk had subsided.
The most serious thing is that the work for which the money was withdrawn was never done. Many important dams falling under the first, second and third subdivisions are still in a dilapidated condition. No repairs were made to them. Due to this corruption of officials and contractors, more than 12 villages are in danger of flood during monsoon.
BJP leader Amar Bahadur Singh said, "All the money was invested in one place to benefit some contractors. There is no transparency in the payment process. If the government does not conduct a high-level investigation into this matter, houses in more than 12 villages will be washed away in floods and people will become homeless."
Officials denied the allegations
When an attempt was made to talk to Drainage Division Executive Engineer Kripashankar Bharti about this, at first he refused to say anything. Later he denied all the allegations and was seen avoiding the camera.
At the same time, Chief Engineer of Gandak Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Vikas Singh said that an investigation team had already been formed on the instructions of the headquarters. A few days ago a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) team had also visited the spot. He says that all the work has been done as per the rules. Nevertheless, a new team has been formed to investigate the allegations. If the bill has been passed without any work, we will personally go to the spot and investigate it. Another engineer Surendra Mohan Verma has also called it a serious allegation and demanded a high-level investigation.
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