Expressing “serious displeasure”, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members on Thursday took irrigation department officials to task for not extending any irrigation benefit to the farmers under Kalwakurthy and Pulichintala projects, even as they paid the contractors an additional Rs 400 crore.
The PAC members, who met in the Assembly building, discussed the two projects and reviewed the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on the “huge expenditure” incurred on them. Pointing out “lapses” by officials who okayed the additional payments, the PAC warned them of serious action.
Committee member and Telugu Desam MLA from Kalwakurthy, Mr Jaipal Yadav, told the media that the CAG have reported “serious lapses” on the part of the officials. He said when the PAC members raised the issue during Thursday’s meeting, the officials concerned remained silent, without giving any reply. He said when the surge pool collapsed in 2009, reportedly due to defective construction, the department did not even serve notices to the contractors, and was yet to initiate any action to recover the amounts. Of the total estimated value of Rs 2,788 crore under the Kalwakurthy Major Lift Irrigation Project, meant to supply water to 3.4 lakh acres in Mahbubnagar, irrigation benefits are yet to reach the farmers despite completion of 80 per cent of the work, the PAC pointed out. The Committee instructed the irrigation department officials to submit action taken report on lapses pointed out by the CAG by Friday.