Maharashtra government says SIT probe into Fadnavis’s flagship water scheme is still on.
Countering the BJP’s claims of giving a ‘clean chit’ to the Jalyukt Shivar Yojana – a flagship project of the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led government – the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government clarified that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) will Is being investigated. Cases of alleged irregularities in the project were still ongoing.
The multi-crore drought-proofing scheme, a pet project of the former chief minister, was criticized by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report, which was tabled in the state legislature in September last year.
After a section of the media reported on Wednesday that the MVA had allegedly given a ‘clean chit’ to the project, the administration issued a clarification stating that there was no question of the government giving a clean chit to the Jalyukt Shivar project. Not only, as long as the investigation of the SIT was still going on.
The clarification said that the Additional Chief Secretary, Soil and Water Conservation Department had testified before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday.
“The news reported by a section of the press was based on the information furnished by the Secretary at that time. However, the Secretary recorded his testimony on the issues raised by the CAG and these figures have been provided by the implementing agency itself. chairman of this committee [PAC] The BJP MLA is Sudhir Mungantiwar,” the government clarified.
It further mentioned that the Secretary had submitted before the PAC that the SIT in its report (to the Government) had stated that the concerned District Collectors have not yet submitted the inquiry report in the JYS scheme.
Last year, the Jalyukt Shivar project was criticized by the CAG as well as several eminent environmental activists and independent fact-finding teams.
The CAG report said that “despite spending Rs 9,633.75 crore, [Jalyukt] The mission had little impact in achieving water neutrality and raising groundwater levels. The report said there was a “lack of transparency” in the execution of works and inadequate monitoring by the state water conservation department.
Mr Fadnavis, who said he had heard media reports that the MVA had allegedly given a ‘clean chit’ to the project, said he was happy that the MVA government had found nothing wrong with the scheme.
“The Bombay High Court had constituted an expert committee to study the scheme and the committee appreciated the project. I myself have stated that around 600 complaints were raised during the implementation of this project [from 2014-2019]…but these were only 600 out of the total 6 lakh works completed. It certainly does not mean that the entire project had rotted out,” the former chief minister said.
BJP leader and former minister Ashish Shelar hit out at the MVA government for blaming the project, remarking that the alleged ‘clean chit’ had refuted the claims of the MVA leadership who tried to tarnish the project.
In March 2017, a field study conducted by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) found that indiscriminate digging of farm ponds as part of the Jalyukt Shivar project had accelerated the rate of groundwater extraction And for that it was closed. “Unscientific implementation” and “volatility”.
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