* State Govt tables report of SIT and Action Taken Report, accepts 20 out of total 22 recommendations
* Decides to take action against officials found guilty of various irregularities
By Kartik Lokhande
After
a long wait, on Saturday, Democratic Front (DF) Government tabled the
report of Special Inquiry Team (SIT) constituted to probe multi-crore
irrigation scam. It also tabled the Action Taken Report (ATR) accepting
20 out of 22 recommendations of the panel, and decided to take action
against the officials found guilty of irregularities. However, despite
indictment by the SIT, the Government gave ‘clean chit’ to the then
Water Resources Minister and now Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Headed by eminent water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley, the SIT was
constituted to probe into multi-crore irrigation scam. The SIT was set
up in December 2012 to study the cost escalation and other issues
pertaining to irrigation projects in the State. It was constituted
following the pressure mounted by the Opposition, over the large-scale
irregularities in execution of various projects. Even the Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan also had wondered as to how the area under irrigation
in the State increased only by 0.1 per cent in last 10 years despite
spending a huge amount of Rs 72,000 crore. After two extensions, the SIT
submitted its report to the Government in March this year.
The report of the SIT was tabled before the State Legislature on
Saturday, in Mumbai, apart from the ATR. A day ago, BJP MLA Devendra
Fadnavis had leaked some part of the Chitaley Committee report and had
brought to fore that the committee had indicted the then Water Resources
Minister as well as senior officers including Executive Director, Chief
Engineer, Chief Accounts and Finance Officer (CAFO), and others for
irregularities and procedure by-passes.
The SIT report, tabled on Saturday, clearly stated that Irrigation
Development Corporations (IDCs) did not have powers to grant Revised
Administrative Approval (RAA) to projects. Still, in various cases, RAA
was granted and the responsibility for this rested with Member and
Chairman of the IDCs. Water Resources Minister is Chairman of IDCs.
During the period 2006-09, NCP bigwig Ajit Pawar (who is now Deputy
Chief Minister) was Water Resources Minister. Thus, the SIT has indicted
Ajit Pawar in its report.
However, while tabling the ATR on the SIT report in Legislative
Assembly, the present-day Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare said
that Ajit Pawar was not named in the report. Besides, he claimed, the
Minister and the governing council had powers to grant RAA. Stating that
the Government had accepted the recommendations of SIT, Tatkare
announced the decision to initiate action against officers found guilty
by the SIT. In some cases, he added, already the departmental inquiry
was in progress.
It may be recalled here that ‘The Hitavada’ had brought to fore the
large-scale irregularities in execution of irrigation projects through
its investigative series ‘Black Paper on Irrigation’. In its series,
based on the loads of officials documents and office-notes, ‘The
Hitavada’ had exposed how the unholy nexus of contractors-bureaucrats-politicians
had siphoned off the funds meant for irrigation development in the
State. It had reported on specific instances of illegal grant of
mobilisation and machinery advance to contractors, procedure by-pass by
the then Executive Director of Vidarbha Irrigation Development
Corporation (VIDC), diktat issued by the then Water Resources Minister
Ajit Pawar’s personal secretary to cancel circulars against illegal
practices, cost updation after issuance of tenders, addition of
components to original project, change in scope and design of projects
to benefit contractors etc. Chitaley Committee also has confirmed ‘The
Hitavada’ reports.
Probe into Jigaon project
SIT headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley
has recommended in-depth probe into Jigaon irrigation project in
Buldhana district, and Dhamni project in Kolhapur district. In the ATR
tabled by the Government on Saturday, it was mentioned that the probe
was already in progress through Vigilance Squad.
‘Irrigation potential increased by 26%’
The SIT has observed
that the irrigation potential in the State increased by 26 per cent in
last nine years. In the said period, the irrigation potential of the
State had increased from 36.48 lakh hectares to 45.91 lakh hectares,
which works out to be 9.43 lakh hectares, and this amounts to 26 per
cent.
Interestingly, like the ‘White Paper on Irrigation’, SIT has brought out
‘flaws’ in finalisation of area under irrigation. The multi-crore
irrigation scam was a fallout of a small observation in Economic Survey
of Maharashtra report that there was only 0.1 per cent rise in area
under irrigation in 10 years. Later on, Water Resources Department had
rubbished the claim stating that the figure was calculated by
Agriculture Department by way of adopting ‘faulty’ method.
A war of words had ensued between Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who
belongs to NCP, and Agriculture Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who
belongs to Congress. Vikhe-Patil had claimed that the method of
calculation of area under irrigation, adopted by Agriculture Department,
was correct. When the controversy snowballed into a massive scam, and
details started coming out from the official files, the Water Resources
Department issued a ‘White Paper on Irrigation’ to reaffirm its stand on
area under irrigation.
More recently, Water Resources Department and Agriculture Department
constituted a joint committee to ensure ‘better co-ordination’ for
‘accurate calculation’ of area under irrigation.
14-06-14
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