Lucknow : Former Ghaziabad DM Nidhi Kesarwani suspended in corruption case

Lucknow : Taking strict action against the two then DMs in the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway land scam, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath suspended Nidhi Kesarwani, a woman IAS officer posted at the Centre. Chief Minister Yogi wrote through Twitter that in accordance with the policy of zero tolerance against corruption, the Chief Minister has suspended the then District Magistrate Ghaziabad and ordered to refer the matter to the Government of India to initiate departmental action.

While being DM in Ghaziabad, Nidhi Kesarwani was accused of corruption during land acquisition for Delhi Meerut Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway. Taking cognizance of this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given instructions to suspend the then DM Nidhi Kesarwani and take action against two other DMs. Apart from this, orders have also been given to register a case along with a departmental inquiry into the matter.

IAS officer Nidhi Kesarwani is currently posted in the Central Government as Deputy Secretary, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare. There is an allegation of irregularities in the land acquisition case against Nidhi Kesarwani, who is from Manipur cadre of 2004 batch. She became the DM of Ghaziabad on July 21, 2016. Now the central government has to take action against IAS Nidhi Kesarwani. The State Government has written a letter to the Government of India to initiate departmental action against him.

It may be mentioned that for the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway, lands of four villages of Ghaziabad-Kushaliya, Nahal, Dasna and Rasulpur Sikrod were taken. The farmers of these villages filed arbitration suits against the award. In the years 2016 and 2017, the then DM (Arbitrator) decided to pay compensation at the rate of four times the DM circular rate of land under the new Land Acquisition Act.