Irrigation Scam: Maharashtra BJP demands resignation of Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister

NEW DELHI: The BJP in Maharashtra on Friday demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, saying that the report of a panel that probed alleged corruption in the irrigation department when he headed it had confirmed most of the allegations raised by the opposition.

The Madhav Chitale committee’s findings on the alleged Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam have yet to be made public. The state government said it plans to submit the report before the assembly Saturday.

On Friday, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis brought what was called a leaked extract of the report to the assembly, and it shows that a number of irrigation projects were given approval without finalising the design.

In many cases, changes were made after construction started, which led to massive cost escalation, it says. It doesn’t name Pawar. But according to the document that Fadnavis brought, work on 24 irrigation projects that were commenced during Pawar’s tenure as irrigation minister was done “illegally” as they lacked certain approvals.

If the findings in the purported extract and the actual report are the same, they could put the NCP leader in an uncomfortable position, especially at a time when the state parties are gearing up for assembly elections.

An NCP leader said the report had not indicted Ajit Pawar or even named him and “so the question of his resignation doesn’t arise”.

The report only blames government officials and asks for a departmental inquiry against them, this leader said. As per the purported extract of the report, project costs escalated due to a nexus of contractors who increased the cost “as much as they wanted”.

It said there were no master plan for irrigation projects, and in many cases there was no dialogue with the people affected by the projects. In as much as 45% of cases, the equipment for measuring the health of dams was found to be not working, it says.