Mayor alleges graft in Bali Yatra, asks dist admn to give cost breakup

Cuttack: Mayor Subhash Singh on Tuesday sparked a political storm following his allegation of large-scale corruption in the expenses of this year's Bali Yatra. Addressing the media, Singh accused the district administration of withholding financial details and demanded that the Cuttack district collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde release a full breakup of the budget and spending during the nine-day fair.Singh also claimed that several festival-related works were awarded in an arbitrary manner and that one particular company received undue favour in the allocation of major contracts."He has favoured one company and given work to it," Singh alleged, insisting that the administration must make the financial details public.Raising question mark over protocol breach, Singh said he was kept out of key inaugural and concluding events despite being the mayor. Responding to the allegations, Shinde said due procedure was followed. "The mayor had been invited and the festival was organised in association with the CMC," Shinde said, declining to comment on other issues raised by Singh.BJP member Sritam Das criticised Singh. "The mayor was not in the city during such an important programme. He shouldn't comment on issues where he was absent," Das said.

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