19.4.13

CAG slams Maha government on irrigation


The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the state government over incomplete irrigation projects, saying they have led to cost overruns of over Rs 26,600 crore and delays that have gone beyond 40 years.
From large-scale and arbitrary increases in the cost of irrigation projects to violations of norms set by a high-powered committee to needless mobilization advances doled out to contractors, the latest CAG report has dug up more dirt on the state irrigation department, which was headed by NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar from 1999 to 2009 and later by his close aide Sunil Tatkare.
The CAG report, which was presented in the Maharashtra assembly revealed that in 242 of 426 incomplete projects undertaken by five major irrigation development corporations, the initial budgets increased from Rs 7,215 crore to Rs 33,832 crore, a cost overrun of Rs 26,617 crore.

No comments: