After Nationalist Congress Party’s Chhagan Bhujbal, the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) has trained its guns on another NCP heavyweight, former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis confirmed that the ACB had sought the state government’s permission to probe Mr Pawar’s role in the Balganga irrigation scam.
The ACB on Tuesday filed a chargesheet in the case. However, the 30,000-page document did not mention Mr Pawar’s name though the ACB questioned him during the investigation.
Denying attempts to defend Mr Pawar, Mr Fadnavis said, “We will not spare anyone involved in the irrigation scam. The ACB has sought information regarding the role played by Mr Pawar in certain decisions related to the Balganga project and the investigating agency will be provided all the information. There is no question of shielding anyone.”
A senior official from the water resources department on condition of anonymity confirmed that the ACB on July 27 had written a letter to the principal secretary of the department, seeking information on policy decisions taken during Mr Pawar’s tenure as irrigation minister.
Asked whether Mr Pawar’s name not being in the chargesheet filed by the ACB meant a clean chit for him, Mr Fadnavis advised reading the last paragraph of the chargesheet. “Even without getting approval from the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority for the Balganga project, it got finance from City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). No permission was taken from the state government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CIDCO and Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation. Finance given by CIDCO and the MoU aspect also need to be probed,” reads the last paragraph of the ACB chargesheet.
Incidentally, when Mr Pawar was in-charge of the irrigation department, CIDCO happened to be controlled by his party, the NCP.
Meanwhile, the chargesheet has also raised questions about the bidding procedure for the Balganga project, terming it as “suspicious” and stating that it requires further probing.
“The tender process worth Rs 5,228,226 of allotting survey work to Pioneer Foundation is completely suspicious and needs to be probed,” reads the chargesheet.
Despite repeated attempts, Mr Pawar remained unavailable for comment. Six high-ranking officials were booked in the case.
