Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s announcement of conducting a departmental inquiry against 45 officials of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation has received mixed reactions from political leaders. While Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray congratulated the CM, others including Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar have demanded CBI investigation into the alleged irrigation scam.
Mr Wadettiwar said, “Departmental inquiry or any such inquiry will not be of much consequence as the officials who did work will themselves be doing the inquiry. I will be meeting the CM, requesting him to hand over the inquiry to CBI,” he said.
The demand of Congress MLA from Chandrapur is significant as he was minister of state for irrigation department in the past.
Speaking on this demand, the chief minister has stated that the departmental inquiry initiated by him was based on the recommendation of the Bendge Committee report. The inquiry involves probing roles played by many officials including the present secretary of the department Devendra Shirke.”
However, the Opposition is not ready to take the CM’s word. BJP’s leader of the Opposition Vinod Tawade has also demanded a CBI inquiry in the scam saying that a departmental inquiry and even the white paper could be an eye-wash.
However, Mr Thackeray congratulated the CM for “showing courage” in ordering a departmental inquiry against officials of VIDC.
“Mr Chavan has been under tremendous pressure from NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar. But he has stood his ground. We want the inquiry to be an in-depth one, which would nail the culprits even if they are ministers. The probe should be time-bound,” Mr Thackeray said.