Orissa government admits Rs836 crore irregularity in water department

Orissa government today admitted irregularities to the tune of Rs836 crore in chief minister Naveen Patnaik held water resources department, but ruled out corruption charges against the office.

State parliamentary affairs minister Raghunath Mohanty, who replied on behalf of the chief minister, admitted there were irregularities in the department.

"Yes, I admit there was irregularities in the implementation of the AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme) as pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). But the CAG report did not anywhere mention about corruption," Mohanty said while replying to a discussion on an adjournment motion.

The CAG in its 2009 report had said out of 33 projects under AIBP, only nine were completed as of March 2009. This led to cost overrun of Rs3,537.26 crore and time overrun up from two to 12 years.

Stating that CAG had also praised the water resources department for introduction of e-tendering and use of remote sensing for verification of projects, Mohanty said the state government had submitted its compliance report with the CAG.

The minister said implementation of lower Indra irrigation project, Indravati project and some other projects were delayed due to several factors.

Congress member SS Saluja, SS Bhoi, BJP member Jaynarayn Mishra expressed concern alleging that there was "rampant corruption" in the water resources department for which AIBP could not be implemented at right time.

Leader of opposition, Bhupinder Singh accused the state government of failing to utilise the central funds for implementation of irrigation projects while irrigation potential in most of the districts were very low.

"Only 3% of cultivable land in Balangir district was irrigated," the Congress leader pointed out and held the department under the chief minister as responsible for the miseries of the people.