Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah on Wednesday demanded a probe by the House Committee. He also sought the resignation of Chief and Minor Irrigation Minister Govind Karjol.
At a press conference in Bengaluru, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that there are two contracts for the modernization of 1st to 15th distribution canals and 16th to 18th sub-canals under Narayanpur Right Bank Canal in Lingasugur and Devadurg taluks with a total value of Rs 1,619 crore. The district was given to ND Vaddar, brother of former BJP MLA Manappa Vajjal.
Following complaints from Lingsugur MLA DS Huligeri that ₹425 crore was paid to the contractor without completing the work, the chief minister had constituted a technical committee to conduct on-the-spot inspection. He said the committee, after inspecting the spot, had ruled that the contractor had submitted false accounts and data.
Mr Siddaramaiah alleged that engineers, contractors and government officials had colluded to launder funds in the project by presenting fake accounts.
He said that a total of ₹800 crore was cheated without starting the works listed under the contract. He alleged that the goons hired by the contractor had prevented the Legislature Estimates Committee from examining the site of the contract. He said that till now the government has neither taken action against the contractor or his goons.
Demanding whether the works listed in the contract were completed by the contractor, a special house committee of the Vidhan Sabha be constituted, Mr Siddaramaiah said such committee should get police protection.
Meanwhile, Congress working president Ishwar Khandre in a separate press conference accused the government of not recruiting officers for 30,000 vacant posts in Kalyan Karnataka region. “The area has not developed due to vacancies and the BJP government has resorted to reversing the reservation given to candidates from KK region.”