The Taj Heritage Corridor case is an alleged scam wherein, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati and a minister in her government, Nasimuddin Siddiqui, were charged with corruption. The Taj Corridor project was intended to upgrade tourist facilities near the Taj Mahal and was to be implemented during her tenure as Chief Minister. The then BJP government at the Centre gave the Environmental Clearance required for the project near Taj Mahal. However, later on the BJP government backed out and then started saying that the project was not cleared by the Environment Ministry and blamed Mayawati for starting construction work near the heritage building of the Taj Mahal.
The project was started with the support of the Bhartiya Janata Party and interrupted when Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party disaligned itself with that party on 25 August 2003. It is said that this change in alignment was due to Mayawati's quickly-changing temperament and because of the BJP's hostility toward the Taj Heritage Corridor project. A political commentator said that the support for the Taj Corridor project came when Mayawati protected BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti from prosecution in the case of the demolition of the Babri Masjid by moving the trial of all charges except the conspiracy charge to a court in Rae Bareilly.
Further, it has been alleged that Mayawati embezzled the money dedicated for this project. The case is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. In September 2003 Ajay Agrawal, the former government counsel in the project, began accusing Mayawati of enriching herself from the Corridor project and also stated that Mayawati had recently acquired property both in her name and in the care of her relatives. Initially, the case saw some rapid progress, when the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted extensive searches on her various addresses, and claimed that though she had claimed income of only Rs. 1.1 crores during her tenure as CM, her bank balance in a single bank went up to 2.5 crore and total assets held by her were estimated at Rs.15 crore. At one point a warrant was expected for her arrest, but she was granted a stay order.
However, since late 2003, investigations appear to have slowed down; there are speculations in the media about political interference, and the Supreme Court of India has several times pulled up the CBI for its tardy progress in the case. Media sources reported that various officials who had been investigating the case were transferred to other duties.
The project is now defunct, and plans are being made to remove the partial construction near the Taj Mahal site and replace it with a low tech forested greenbelt.
The project was started with the support of the Bhartiya Janata Party and interrupted when Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party disaligned itself with that party on 25 August 2003. It is said that this change in alignment was due to Mayawati's quickly-changing temperament and because of the BJP's hostility toward the Taj Heritage Corridor project. A political commentator said that the support for the Taj Corridor project came when Mayawati protected BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti from prosecution in the case of the demolition of the Babri Masjid by moving the trial of all charges except the conspiracy charge to a court in Rae Bareilly.
Further, it has been alleged that Mayawati embezzled the money dedicated for this project. The case is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. In September 2003 Ajay Agrawal, the former government counsel in the project, began accusing Mayawati of enriching herself from the Corridor project and also stated that Mayawati had recently acquired property both in her name and in the care of her relatives. Initially, the case saw some rapid progress, when the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted extensive searches on her various addresses, and claimed that though she had claimed income of only Rs. 1.1 crores during her tenure as CM, her bank balance in a single bank went up to 2.5 crore and total assets held by her were estimated at Rs.15 crore. At one point a warrant was expected for her arrest, but she was granted a stay order.
However, since late 2003, investigations appear to have slowed down; there are speculations in the media about political interference, and the Supreme Court of India has several times pulled up the CBI for its tardy progress in the case. Media sources reported that various officials who had been investigating the case were transferred to other duties.
The project is now defunct, and plans are being made to remove the partial construction near the Taj Mahal site and replace it with a low tech forested greenbelt.
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