Around six crores of taxpayers’ money was saved after a senior administrative official in Faizabad found a fault in the state government’s dream project of connecting all the 148 Dr Ambedkar villages in the area with main roads, highways and markets.

The engineers of the Development Department had made a blueprint of the project and had planned to lay roads of total 250 kilometres in length, which would cost Rs 33.78 crores. The state government had already released Rs 34 crores for it.

When the project reached Faizabad Divisional Commissioner Rajiv Kumar for approval, he conducted a survey on his own and found that a 50-km stretch of road was in excess and of no use.

“A total stretch of 200 kilometres in different sections was enough to connect all the villages of Faizabad Division, the rest was a waste,” Kumar told The Indian Express.

“I have checked that in some villages the concerned officers have sanctioned more than one road in a village. So I scrapped them all,” he added.

According to him, the reduction of 50 kilometres road would bring down the cost to Rs 27.47 crores — Rs 6.5 crores less than the earlier estimated amount.

“The money saved from this project can be utilised in any other development work,” Kumar added.