26.9.12

Ajit Pawar quits over irrigation scam


Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar resigned from the Democratic Front government , in a dramatic development which brought to the fore his party’s simmering tension with the Congress but which should not lead to a life-threatening crisis for the coalition, at least not in the near run.
The entire NCP team of ministers also put in their resignations, although they were meant to be more of a mark of solidarity with Ajit Pawar rather than signalling a real intent of sacrifice for the deputy CM’s sake. Unlike Ajit who sent his resignation to CM Prithviraj Chavan, NCP ministers submitted their papers to state party president Madhukar Pichhad, showing their willingness to be cajoled into taking their resignations back.
Ajit’s resignation came in the wake of a series of exposes of scams in the Maharashtra irrigation department on his watch, and is meant to be an angry protest against CM Chavan. The deputy CM holds Chavan, who has had a tough time imposing his status as head of government, responsible for the “leaks” about his performance as irrigation minister.


All you needed to know about Maharashtra’s Rs 35,000-crore irrigation scam and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s alleged role in it

Around four months ago, a whistle-blower — chief engineer Vijay Pandhare from Water Resources Dept — wrote a 15-page letter to department secretary Eknath Patil, saying Rs 35,000 crore was skimmed off dud irrigation projects in the past decade.
The letter, which was marked to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Governor K Sankaranarayanan, said crores of rupees were paid as false claims.
The govt did nothing about the letter, but the media exposed the role of Ajit Pawar, water resources minister between ’99 and ’09. It was revealed that between ’06 and ’09, tenders worth thousands of crores for Vidarbha projects were allegedly awarded at exorbitant rates.
Pawar has been accused of "hurriedly" granting project approvals worth Rs 20,000 crore during an eight-month period in 2009 alone, without the clearance of the governing council of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).
Advances of Rs 614 cr were made despite a ban on such payments. Official documents show clearances were allegedly granted by only Pawar and VIDC's then executive director D P Shirke. Pawar allegedly tweaked rules to have a complete say in the tender process.
Official documents show that between June and August 2009, 32 projects worth Rs 17,700 crore were sanctioned, some of them just weeks before the state election code of conduct came into force.
The Vadnare Committee, appointed by the government to look into the irregularities, said that in the Jigaon lift irrigation project, pipes which cost Rs 80,000 a tonne were quoted at Rs 1.60 lakh a tonne.
It has also come to light that the cost of Lower Penganga project in Yavatmal district, one of the projects allegedly approved by Pawar and Shirke, was raised from Rs 1,402 cr in 1997 to Rs 10,429 cr in 2009.
In a parallel movement against illegal cost escalation in govt projects, Mumbai doctor Anjali Damania found that the cost of Kalu dam in Thane district had jumped from Rs 640 cr to Rs 1,400 cr and that of Balganga dam in Pen from Rs 420 cr to Rs 1,320 cr.

1 comment:

Landsale said...

Irrigation projects are treated as cash cows by all parties when they come to power in states. The project size running into hundreds and sometimes thousands of crores are easily manipulated. The Orders are over priced and contractors do only small amount of work by fudging measurements. Govt releases Hundreds of crores which flow back to ministers. In effect public money belonging to YOU AND ME reach pockets of Ministers and MLAs