Lucknow, Sep 27 (IANS) Cases have been registered against at least 77 engineers and contractors for poor roads in Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, police said Tuesday.

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ordered action following Gandhi's complaint to the district administration during her visit to Rae Bareli earlier this month.

Several people have been arrested in this connection, said Sanjay Singhal, superintendent of police.

Gandhi had expressed her displeasure at the "extremely poor" quality of roads being made in her constituency. Significantly, she had got a special grant of Rs.2.5 billion released by the central government for "improvement" of the roads.

The chief minister soon directed his brother Shiv Pal Yadav, who is also the minister for public works, to inquire into the complaint.

Evidently, with a view to pre-empting any direct embarrassment to his government, the chief minister ordered prompt action.

A special inquiry committee of senior officials was rushed to Rae Bareli last week and its report explicitly confirmed much truth in the complaint.

According to the report, only a small 3 km stretch of the 150 km undertaken by the Public Works Department and its allied departments was up to the mark.

The rest of the roads were visibly "far sub-standard". Deep ditches had begun to appear in roads built or repaired only a few months back.

Eventually, FIRs were lodged against 77 people Monday night charging them for indulging in corrupt practices and pilfering government funds.

Among those in the line of fire were 49 contractors, two superintending engineers, eight executive engineers and 18 assistant and junior engineers.

Meanwhile, the Congress has termed this case as another example of Mulayam Singh Yadav's misrule.

"This case vindicates our stance that there is rampant corruption in the Mulayam regime and the chief minister, is in the dock," state Congress chief Salman Khurshid told reporters here.