In Maharashtra, the political noise over the irrigation scam has taken away the focus from the actual scam itself: a state that has spent Rs 70,000 crores to build 4000 small and big dams, more than any in the country, but despite this dam building frenzy, has only managed to water 17% of its cultivated land, less than half the national average. Where has the money gone? From RTI documents, testimonies of whistleblowers and on ground reports, emerges a picture of how rules were bent and broken to favour a cartel of contractors and politicians, leaving the people of the state high and dry.