Funds for Vidarbha never diverted: Tatkare
(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on July 7, 2013)
* Water storage Gosikhurd project to be built up to 242 metres this year
* Proposals for revised administrative approval to 45 works from Vidarbha pending before State Cabinet
Staff Reporter
Under fire over diversion of funds meant for irrigation development in Vidarbha region to other parts of Maharashtra over the years, Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare said, “This has never happened. Vidarbha’s funds were never diverted, and will not be diverted.”
“I am stating this as Water Resources Minister of Maharashtra,” said a visibly irked Tatkare when he was asked about diversion of Vidarbha funds to Rest of Maharashtra. Adv Madhukar Kimmatkar, Expert Member of Vidarbha Statutory Development Board (VSDB), had pointed out some time ago that funds to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore were diverted from Vidarbha to Western Maharashtra in violation of Governor’s directives over last 16 years. Kimmatkar, who is also a Member of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) Board, was present in press conference during which Tatkare made the statement. However, Kimmatkar preferred to keep mum and avoided confrontation with Tatkare on the issue of diversion of funds from Vidarbha.
Tatkare adopted an aggressive posture and said that it was his press conference and no one else would speak there. “When Water Resources Department itself did not get that much of fund, how could a whopping amount of Rs 1 lakh crore could be diverted to other areas? Vidarbha’s funds have remained and will remain in Vidarbha, as per the Governor’s directives,” he said. Tatkare was Finance and Planning Minister also for some time.
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| Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare addressing press conference as Minister of State Rajendra Mulak, Principal Secretary E B Patil, VIDC Executive Director P C Zapke look on. |
Tatkare was addressing a press conference at Sinchan Bhavan here on Saturday. He was in the city to review progress of various irrigation projects in six districts of Nagpur Division. Replying to a question, the minister said that water storage in Gosikhurd national project would be built up to 242 metres this year. “Due to problems related to land acquisition, we could not build storage above 236 metres though dam work was completed three years ago. With the additional rehabilitation package of Rs 1,200 crore, we are hopeful that project-affected persons will relocate now in the interest of the region’s most-awaited irrigation project,” he said. According to him, with increase in water storage, irrigation potential of 1,72,000 hectares could be created this year. “This will make available water for NTPC’s Mouda power project,” he added.
In reply to a question, Tatkare told reporters that 45 proposals for revised administrative approval to irrigation projects in Vidarbha region were pending before State Cabinet. The process has to be followed for grant of revised administrative approval, he said.
Minister of State for Water Resources Rajendra Mulak, Principal Secretary of Water Resources Department (WRD) Eknath Patil, Divisional Commissioner B V Gopala Reddy, Executive Director of VIDC P C Zapke, Chief Engineer (WRD) Nagpur Region V M Kulkarni were present prominently during the press conference.
Rs 2,800 cr tenders cancelled Asked about his assurance in Legislative Assembly last year, Tatkare told reporters that the announcement regarding cancelling of tenders pertained to Lower Penganga irrigation project. In all, 22 tenders worth Rs 2,800 crore were cancelled. Of these tenders, 17 were under-process and work orders were issued in case of remaining five.
‘Non-officials can submit relevant documents to SIT’ In stark contrast to the statement of water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley, who heads the Special Inquiry Team (SIT) to probe irregularities in irrigation sector, Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare said that even the non-officials could submit relevant documents to SIT.
Dr Chitaley had made a statement that SIT was not empowered to accept documents from non-officials. This had attracted severe criticism from Leader of Opposition (Council) Vinod Tawde and other opposition leaders. Reacting to a question on the issue, Tatkare said that already SIT was asked to find out irregularities in irrigation sector and fix responsibility on officials concerned. “This has been included in Terms of Reference for the team. The Government also is ready to act on the recommendations of SIT,” he said.
Asked about six-month extension to SIT, Tatkare said that the Government would discuss the report whenever it came. Extension had been given to SIT so that it could visit sites of various projects. It may be recalled here that the Government granted extension to SIT recently. The extension will be in effect till December 31, 2013, which means SIT report would not come up for discussion during monsoon and winter sessions of State Legislature.
Chargesheet against ‘those’ 45 officials Taking cognisance of Vadnere Committee report, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had suspended 45 officials and initiated enquiry against them. Asked about progress in the matter, Tatkare said that chargesheet was filed against them.
“Now, we are in the process of seeking explanations from them. After this, we will take appropriate action,” he said. These officials included the then Executive Director of VIDC D P Shirke and several top-ranking officers.
In reply to another question, the minister said that he had asked field-level officers of VIDC to complete works in a time-bound manner. He said, “Else, we will fix responsibility for delay on field-level officers and take appropriate action against them.” Special emphasis would be on projects of which 80-90 per cent work was completed. Remaining work of these projects would be completed by the end of this year, he added.
Now, water certificate for projects to be issued from Nagpur Previously, water availability certificate for new projects had to be obtained from Nashik. In a meeting held in the city on Saturday, Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare announced the decision that the certificate for projects in East Vidarbha would be issued from Nagpur. Chief Engineer of WRD, Nagpur Region, was empowered to issue the certificate. “A Government Resolution in this regard would be issued soon,” he told reporters.
Decision on Jamghat project by month-end The decision regarding inter-state Jamghat project would be taken by the end of this month. Tatkare told reporters that a couple of meetings on the project were held previously and a Secretary-level meeting between officers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh would be held within a fortnight. The decision would be taken in a minister-level meeting to be attended by him in Madhya Pradesh by the end of this month.
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