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Journalism of Courage
THE Bihar government’s Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has ordered a probe into alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts and implementation of the state government’s flagship ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ scheme.
The order comes a fortnight after a division bench of the Patna High Court heard a public interest litigation (PIL) petition regarding alleged discrepancies and corruption in bidding, contract allotment and implementation of the scheme. The court asked the petitioner to approach the departments concerned for redressal of grievances.
The PIL was filed on the basis of a series of reports in The Indian Express in September 2021, a set of RTI replies and other reports.
In an order dated February 18, sent to the department’s executive engineers at Purnia, Katihar, Saharsa, Supaul, Madhepura, Araria and Kishanganj, PHED special officer Ashok Kumar wrote: “It is directed (that) in wake of Patna High Court’s order on 4 February, 2022 (in CWJC no. 1106/2022, Sanjay Mehta Vs Government and others) to take apt action and keep updating the department from time to time. Let it be given top priority”.
On February 4, while hearing the PIL filed by Mehta, a social activist, the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S Kumar said: “…the petitioner shall be content if a direction is issued to the authority concerned to consider and decide the representation which the petitioner shall be filing within a period of four weeks”.
“The PHED’s probe order followed after the petitioner filed representation before PHED for redressal of grievances. The PIL was disposed of on February 4 itself, with the court asking us to seek redressal from PHED. There is a forward movement in the matter now with PHED directing its engineers to look into the matter on top priority,” the petitioner’s counsel, Alka Verma, told The Indian Express.
Over 90 per cent work under the Rs 30,000 crore scheme – to provide drinking water to 1.14 lakh wards across 8,600 panchayats of the state – has been completed.
Based on the bidding and contracts in over 20 Bihar districts, the three-part series published in The Indian Express last September revealed how politicians from the BJP, JD(U) and RJD had been awarded the contracts under the scheme.
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