Did Delhi AAP Govt Carry Out A Rs 1,256 Crore Hospital Scam? No, Claims By Bjp Leaders Are Misleading!

Recently, several BJP members and media outlets have alleged that no hospital was present at a location at Kirari Vidhan Sabha of Delhi. In contrast, as per the papers, there has been a 458-bed hospital running there since June 28, 2020.

Claim:

The viral post contains a video that is being widely circulated. The opening of the video shows two persons surrounded by reporters and cameramen all of whom are standing on an empty land. They are gathered around a signboard that reads, "GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI. THIS LAND BELONGS TO THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A HOSPITAL. TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (C) HEALTH MAINTENANCE DIVISION (N) PWD GNCT OF DELHI".

On close examination, the person can be identified as the Delhi BJP state president Adesh Gupta and BJP MP Manoj Tiwari. In the video, Gupta says that this was the land allotted to the Delhi Government for constructing a hospital. Manoj Tiwari asks whether this is the hospital that was to be built. They then read from a paper saying, "Work was completed on 28th June 2020." Gupta says that this hospital was one of the seven temporary hospitals that were to be built during the pandemic. The hospital was to be built at Kirari in Delhi but he remarks that it is nowhere to be seen. Then in the video, several persons claim that the Delhi AAP government has scammed Indians of crores of rupees with the excuse of constructing a hospital.

Several BJP leaders, media outlets and viral posts are alleging that the AAP government had claimed on documents that it had built a hospital with 458 beds in Kirari, Delhi but actually there is no hospital built on the location. The claim is being used to levy charges of corruption against the Delhi AAP government.

Delhi BJP state president Adesh Gupta has shared the video on Twitter. The translated caption reads: "According to the Kejriwal government, on June 28, 2020, a 458-bed hospital has been completely constructed in Kirari, Delhi on paper. Today, when I went to Kirari with BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, I saw that the hospital is there and not even a brick has been laid. @ArvindKejriwal Tell me where is that hospital, did the land eat it or the sky?"

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari tweeted a similar claim. In the caption, he alleged, "Today we went to see the 458 bedded hospital in Kirari.. The truth was astonishing.. Neither a permanent hospital nor a temporary one.."

Amit Malviya, the national convener of the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party also tweeted the video with a similar claim. "This is a 1,256 crore scam by the AAP," he says in the caption.

The official Twitter handle of BJP Delhi also tweeted the claim with the viral video. The translated caption says, "Does anyone see a 458-bed hospital here? The Delhi government has already built a luxurious hospital worth crores of rupees on paper at this place of Kirari and patients have also been treated in the Corona crisis. @ArvindKejriwal Sir such a big deception for Delhites?"

The video is widely viral across Twitter and Facebook with a similar claim.

The claim was further circulated by media outlets such as ZeeNews and Patrika.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false.

To verify the authenticity of the claims made by the BJP leaders, we conducted a keyword search with relevant keywords such as '458 beds'. We came across this report by The Indian Express published on June 25, 2022.

The report is regarding a visit to the land in question where BJP leaders had alleged that "not a brick had been laid". The Indian Express report reads, "When The Indian Express visited the spot on Thursday, it found a boundary of blue metal sheets around the earmarked area at present."

The report stated that the hospital ground is yet to be prepared for setting up the foundation of the semi-permanent structures. A section of the plot was still flooded, the report mentions. The land is surrounded on all sides by plots which are flooded as well. Indian Express also quotes AAP's Kirari MLA Rituraj Jha, who says that the flooded water within the grounds was the reason for a delay in construction.

In the report, it is also mentioned that contrary to the BJP claims the hospital was not set to be completed in June 2020. The tender for the construction was issued first in July 2021.

Following this, we conducted a keyword search on Facebook and came across this post by AA News. In the video published on June 23, 2022, a statement from AAP MLA Rituraj Govind at the 3.30 mark in the video. Govind remarks, "The work here could not be completed because there is a lot of moisture in the ground. The raft formation was not successful so we started constructing the hospital with a pile formation. They (BJP leaders) said that the hospital was built in June 2020 as per the papers. I want to say that the request letter for the construction of the Kirari Hospital was handed over in August 2020, we got the possession for the ground from DDA (Delhi Development Authority) in March 2021. After that estimate, tenders, work award and the process of construction started in Diwali 2021."

We came across posts relating to the incident posted by Govind Rituraj on his Facebook page. In the post uploaded on June 22, Rituraj Govind claims that the BJP leaders have attempted to spread rumours about the AAP government through their allegations of corruption. He shows several papers in the video claiming that the process of securing the land from the DDA and then starting the construction was extensive. The process was then halted due to the detection of moisture levels in the ground.

Govind claims that the ground was allotted to the Delhi government on 10th February 2021. He shows papers and says the possession of the ground was taken by the government on 22 March 2021." He goes on to say that, "We conducted dewatering and found that a considerable amount of groundwater was present in the ground. Then, we chose not to implement a raft formation as it would have weakened the foundation of the building. A hospital needs to stand strong and be resilient against natural disasters. This is why we decided to implement the pile formation for the foundation as that would make the hospital more resistant to damage. This has been one of the causes for the delay."

While searching through Govind's profile, we came across a post from August 4, 2020. The caption of the post reads, "The project of a super speciality hospital in Kirari was discussed in detail after meeting Minister Satyendra Jain today. We have taken a pledge to build a big hospital in Kirari by acquiring land from DDA. As soon as the land is available, the foundation of the hospital will be laid at the earliest."

The post also contains images of the request letter submitted to Satyendra Jain, Cabinet Minister of the Delhi Government. The letter mentions a request for a multi-speciality hospital to be built in Kirari Vidhan Sabha. The letter requests Satyendra Jain to intervene towards the D.D.A to grant the land required.

Following this information, we conducted a keyword search to ascertain the veracity of the claims made by AAP MLA Rituraj Govind. We searched the official website of the Public Works Department of the Government of Delhi. We came across the following document, which is a 'Notice Inviting Tenders'. On page 1, in the name of work section, the construction of a 438-beds hospital in Kirari is mentioned.

On page 3, in the last date and time of submission section, the deadline is mentioned as up to 3 PM on 11th August 2021.

Conducting another keyword search, we came across this document uploaded to the Environment Clearance portal of the National Informatics Centre. The Environment Clearance portal is an initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for ensuring that structures adhere to environmental standards.

The document is a request letter dated 2 August 2021. On the first page, the subject line mentions that the letter is regarding environmental clearance to be granted towards the construction of ICU Hospital in Kirari, New Delhi spread across 25221.32 square kilometres.

On the second page, the specifications of the hospital are mentioned stating that the hospital will have 458 beds with four floors and a ground floor.

Along with these documents, we also came across information on the tenders for the project across websites such as TendersonTime, TenderTiger and Free State Tenders.

In our fact check, we also came across reports by AmarUjala and ABP Live which provided details about the tenders. In the report by AmarUjala published on 12 August 2021, it is mentioned that a hospital with over 450 beds is under construction in the Kirari area of New Delhi.

Conclusion:

In our investigation, we found out that the hospital's notice of tender application was not given till 11 August 2021. The request letter for acquiring the land from the DDA and commencing construction of the hospital in Kirari was submitted by AAP MLA Rituraj Govind on August 4, 2020. The Environmental Clearance was provided by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the construction of the hospital on 2 August 2021. The construction process of the hospital was also reported by media outlets in July and August 2021.

Thus, we are able to ascertain that the claim that the AAP government scammed the people of Delhi by not building the hospital is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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