DF Govt extends term of SIT headed by Chitaley by six months

DF Govt extends term of SIT on irrigation scam

* The committee headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley was to submit its report by June 30, has been given extension till December 31
* With the extension, the Government has avoided smartly discussing various aspects related to SIT during monsoon and winter sessions of State Legislature

By Kartik Lokhande
What will come out of the Government-initiated probe into multi-crore irrigation scam? Taxpayers and betrayed farmers of Maharashtra will have to wait for the answer. As expected, Democratic Front (DF) Government has given an extension of six months to the Special Inquiry Team (SIT) headed by water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley.
Following the pressure mounted by the opposition parties and media, after ‘The Hitavada’ expose of multi-crore irrigation scam in May last year, DF Government had announced constitution of SIT in December 2012. ‘The Hitavada’ had exposed influential contractors and contractors-turned-politicians of NCP, BJP and those close to Congress were involved in irrigation scam. However, it took December 31 midnight for the Water Resources Department (WRD) to issue terms of reference (ToR) of the probe team. The team headed by water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley comprises former Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) A K D Jadhav, former Irrigation Secretary V M Ranade, and former Agriculture Commissioner Krishna Lavhekar.
The SIT had come as a major disappointment for the people of Maharashtra in general and farmers from rainfed region of Vidarbha in particular. SIT was not appointed under Commission of Enquiry Act. Further, it did not have any judicial member or expert police officer. As a result, the angles of criminal conspiracy, rampant corruption, unholy nexus of contractors-bureaucrats-politicians in siphoning funds meant for irrigation development would be left out of the scope of enquiry. Even the ToR fixed by the Government reduced the SIT to the level of any other expert panel without powers to punish the corrupt. Then, the SIT was given a time of six months for submission of its report.
Further, there were indications that the probe through SIT would lead to nothing but fresh presentation of justifications for wrongdoings already done in ‘White Paper on Irrigation’. One such indication was Dr Chitaley’s statement that the committee would not call for documents from ‘non-officials’. He had made it clear that the panel would examine documents presented to it through the official mechanism. In fact, in response to a letter written by Leader of Opposition (Council) Vinod Tawde last month, Dr Chitaley had stated that SIT was not empowered to conduct any investigations against the officers in irrigation scam. It was clear from this and other such developments that the Government does not want to go deep into the all-party loot of public funds.
However, according to WRD’s latest admission, the work of SIT is ‘still in progress’. “As the task of visiting some projects for site inspection is proposed after examination of documents pertaining to irrigation projects, the panel has sought an extension,” stated a communication issued on Saturday. Accordingly, the communication signed by Deputy Secretary (WRD) S D Kulkarni, has granted an extension of another six months to the SIT. Now, the panel is allowed to submit its report by December 12, 2013.
This is a very smart ploy by the Government. Had the SIT report come on June 30 as per the mandate given previously, it would have provided a readymade fodder to the opposition parties as well as the media, ahead of monsoon session of State Legislature. By granting extension till the end of this year, the Government has smartly avoided the period of winter session also which usually concludes by third week of December. Thus, the Government has avoided facing difficult situation over ToR, toothless SIT and its expectedly non-indicting report during next two sessions of State Legislature.
It may be recalled here that the ToR fixed for the SIT had come as a major disappointment for all. As per the ToR announced by the Government on December 31, 2012, the SIT was asked to examine irrigation potential created, actual area under irrigation, other sources of irrigation. SIT was asked to probe reasons for less agricultural area under irrigation, reasons for cost escalations approved by different Irrigation Development Corporations, justification offered by such corporations while granting revised administrative approval and existing norms and administrative set-up, reasons for inordinate delay in completion of irrigation projects; reasons for cost updation, addition of various components to original project thus increasing its scope and its actual impact on massive cost escalation, remedial measures to improve utility of lift irrigation schemes.
Other aspects included in the ToR included measures to improve quality of works undertaken by WRD, concrete suggestion to ensure timely completion of irrigation projects within budgetary estimate, measures to improve area under irrigation. Of total nine terms of reference incorporating above-mentioned points, the last point pertained to ‘fixing the responsibility if irregularities came to fore, and suggest appropriate action’. Overall tone and tenor of ToR indicated at the Government’s attempt to by-pass the issue of corruption. There was no reference, whatsoever, to siphopning off of funds by contractors-bureaucrats-politicians. The only reference was about ‘irregularities’, a term so vague that even procedural lapses could be covered under it.

The irrigation scam
The irrigation scam that came to fore over a year ago had stirred up political atmosphere not only in Maharashtra but also the country. ‘The Hitavada’ exposed how the unholy nexus of contractors-bureaucrats-politicians siphoned off crores of rupees meant for irrigation development in Maharashtra in general and in rainfed region of Vidarbha in particular. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and his party colleague Agriculture Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil had pointed out that despite spending Rs 70,000 crore in past 10 years, area under irrigation had increased only by 0.1 per cent.
It snowballed into a major controversy and resulted in strained relations between ruling coalition partners Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). NCP refuted the allegations. Still, senior NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, during whose tenure as Water Resources Minister funds were siphoned off and massive cost escalations were reported, had to resign. Water Resources Department (WRD) also came up with a ‘White Paper on Irrigation’ that actually proved to be a ‘white-wash’ document, as it justified all the expenses and cost escalations as well as procedural lapses. Gradually, Congress also backtracked in following up the matter of wider public interest.
During winter session of State Legislature held in the city in December 2012, the opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena mounted pressure on the DF Government over the issue of irrigation scam. There was a logjam over the issue and State Legislature could not function for a few days. Following this, Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare announced appointment of SIT to probe into the matter. Surprisingly, within a few days of prorogation of State Legislature session, Ajit Pawar was back as Deputy Chief Minister. WRD announced SIT’s terms of reference (ToR) only around midnight of December 31, 2012.

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on June 30, 2013