Mumbai:
In the first disciplinary action in the Rs. 70,000 irrigation scam in Maharashtra, irrigation secretary Devendra Shirke has been sent on compulsory leave.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had cleared the probe into the involvement of officials of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) in the scam on October 6.
Mr Shirke was the chief executive director of VIDC, the nodal agency for irrigation projects in Vidarbha, and is accused of having not taken any action even though costs were escalated, no work was done and tendering processes were followed.
He is also accused of taking decisions to revise budgets to benefit contractors even though he was not authorised to do so.
RTI activists and the opposition in Maharashtra have alleged that during a decade-long term as Irrigation Minister, former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar engineered a massive swindle worth 72,000 crores, handing out inflated contracts to private firms in exchange for kickbacks, and changing the rules to give him near-complete control of the decision-making process. Even though thousands of crores were spent, the state's irrigation ability was increased by just 0.1 per cent.
Activists say that one of the most flagrant instances of Ajit Pawar's abuse of power is that in three months - between July to August 2009 - he cleared an increase of 20,000 cores as the expense on 38 projects in Vidarbha. The opposition alleges that because the state elections were scheduled for October that year, Ajit Pawar wanted to milk his last few months in office to collude with private companies.
Later that year, the NCP-Congress combine won the election and Ajit Pawar then became Deputy Chief Minister.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had cleared the probe into the involvement of officials of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) in the scam on October 6.
Mr Shirke was the chief executive director of VIDC, the nodal agency for irrigation projects in Vidarbha, and is accused of having not taken any action even though costs were escalated, no work was done and tendering processes were followed.
He is also accused of taking decisions to revise budgets to benefit contractors even though he was not authorised to do so.
RTI activists and the opposition in Maharashtra have alleged that during a decade-long term as Irrigation Minister, former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar engineered a massive swindle worth 72,000 crores, handing out inflated contracts to private firms in exchange for kickbacks, and changing the rules to give him near-complete control of the decision-making process. Even though thousands of crores were spent, the state's irrigation ability was increased by just 0.1 per cent.
Activists say that one of the most flagrant instances of Ajit Pawar's abuse of power is that in three months - between July to August 2009 - he cleared an increase of 20,000 cores as the expense on 38 projects in Vidarbha. The opposition alleges that because the state elections were scheduled for October that year, Ajit Pawar wanted to milk his last few months in office to collude with private companies.
Later that year, the NCP-Congress combine won the election and Ajit Pawar then became Deputy Chief Minister.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
