Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday filed its reply in the Bombay HC on the irrigation scam.
It denied allegations of nexus between ministers and contractors in several projects and attributed delays and rising costs to opposition raised by project-affected persons (PAPs) over their rehabilitation. The state also informed the HC that it has appointed a SIT headed by water scientist Madhav Chitale.
The affidavit filed by Prahlad Sonawane, chief engineer (Konkan region) of the water resources department in response to a PIL by activist Pravin Wategaonkar dismissed as “baseless” the allegations that the state made huge payment of ‘idle charges’ by keeping PAPs’ compensation pending in some cases.
About Jamda project in Ratnagiri, the state said the land was initially acquired for a dam and a compensation amount of Rs 112 lakh was paid in June 2010 to the affected villagers and the land required for “submergence” will be acquired at a later stage and only then would the villagers be displaced and paid. The total land required for the ‘dam seat’ and ‘submergence’ is 479 hectares of which only 44 hectares is meant for the seat and is in possession of the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation. Giving a status update on the project, the state said the excavation work is 90% complete and the acquisition process for the remaining land is on despite impediments and stoppage thrice by PAPs between 2005 and 2009 and though the contractor demanded idle payment charge of Rs 26 crore, it has not been sanctioned yet.
But in the Nardave medium project, the state blamed the land acquisition delays caused by PAPs for the “idle charges becoming operational”. The state opposed any relief as sought in the PIL was based on CAG reports of 2010-11 in case of the project in Vidharbha and admitted that “some working procedures can be corrected over a period of time”. The state has for almost every project blamed the ‘protesting’ villagers for delays and cost escalations. The Shirshinge project was stopped from June 2001 till mid-2006 because PAPs objected to the land acquisition process and sought better compensation for their land. As a result of the protests,
“The government did not delay idle-charge payments running into crores to contractors, even as PAPs fought for ‘reasonable compensation’ for their land and has yet to pay Rs 19.5 crore, as sought in 2009, to the Sawantwadi deputy forest conservator for nearly 79 hectares of forest land that falls in the Shirshinge minor project area,” the state said. The HC will be hearing Wategaonkar’s PIL on Thursday.
Courtesy:
Swati Deshpande TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/12/20&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00700&ViewMode=HTML
It denied allegations of nexus between ministers and contractors in several projects and attributed delays and rising costs to opposition raised by project-affected persons (PAPs) over their rehabilitation. The state also informed the HC that it has appointed a SIT headed by water scientist Madhav Chitale.
The affidavit filed by Prahlad Sonawane, chief engineer (Konkan region) of the water resources department in response to a PIL by activist Pravin Wategaonkar dismissed as “baseless” the allegations that the state made huge payment of ‘idle charges’ by keeping PAPs’ compensation pending in some cases.
About Jamda project in Ratnagiri, the state said the land was initially acquired for a dam and a compensation amount of Rs 112 lakh was paid in June 2010 to the affected villagers and the land required for “submergence” will be acquired at a later stage and only then would the villagers be displaced and paid. The total land required for the ‘dam seat’ and ‘submergence’ is 479 hectares of which only 44 hectares is meant for the seat and is in possession of the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation. Giving a status update on the project, the state said the excavation work is 90% complete and the acquisition process for the remaining land is on despite impediments and stoppage thrice by PAPs between 2005 and 2009 and though the contractor demanded idle payment charge of Rs 26 crore, it has not been sanctioned yet.
But in the Nardave medium project, the state blamed the land acquisition delays caused by PAPs for the “idle charges becoming operational”. The state opposed any relief as sought in the PIL was based on CAG reports of 2010-11 in case of the project in Vidharbha and admitted that “some working procedures can be corrected over a period of time”. The state has for almost every project blamed the ‘protesting’ villagers for delays and cost escalations. The Shirshinge project was stopped from June 2001 till mid-2006 because PAPs objected to the land acquisition process and sought better compensation for their land. As a result of the protests,
“The government did not delay idle-charge payments running into crores to contractors, even as PAPs fought for ‘reasonable compensation’ for their land and has yet to pay Rs 19.5 crore, as sought in 2009, to the Sawantwadi deputy forest conservator for nearly 79 hectares of forest land that falls in the Shirshinge minor project area,” the state said. The HC will be hearing Wategaonkar’s PIL on Thursday.
Courtesy:
Swati Deshpande TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/12/20&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00700&ViewMode=HTML
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