EGS scam: No probe report yet, but payments cleared

The reports from the ground show that at many villages, the money was disbursed without musters being displayed and sometimes not even in the presence of gram panchayat leaders — the only two conditions Varma had insisted on for payment.

‘‘Why should the innocent suffer because of a few bogus names?’’ counters EGS Minister Harshvardhan Patil. ‘‘We are paying off the dues before the verification process is completed… if we find fake names, we will extract the money.’’

Patil clarified that of the Rs 11.2 cr, Rs 6.5 crore have already been paid off. ‘‘We are paying the remaining Rs 4.7 crore as well before the verification process is complete.’’

Asked about the non-cooperation by agriculture department in handing over muster rolls, Patil said Agriculture Commissioner S K Goel and Divisional Commissioner Prabhakar Karandikar are looking into the matter. ‘‘The two are also deputing teams to begin physical verification of the EGS work in Solapur.’’

Asked whether the state government would do its bit to support Varma, who has been fighting a lonely battle ever since she unearthed the fraud, Patil said: ‘‘The guilty will be punished.’’ And followed it up with: ‘‘There’s no question of transferring Varma… she will have to stay and do her duty.’’

Patil, who was in Solapur early this week, said he had directed the Solapur SP to expedite the four police cases filed against agriculture department workers in the EGS fraud.

He said demand was building up for new EGS works in Solapur. ‘‘I have directed the district administration to forget the past and restart work.’’

The minister said EGS Secretary Ramesh Kanade’s report on the fraud is expected in a few days. ‘‘We have already submitted our report to Kanade,’’ said Karandikar. The divisional commissioner, who has ordered reading of muster rolls in five districts, said it had passed off without incident in a few villages in Sangli. ‘‘Villagers didn’t resist the reading and it went off smoothly,’’ he pointed out. Which is not the case in Solapur, where the government’s bid to clear EGS funds before the system is tightened hasn’t gone down well with the district administration.

‘‘We will catch the crooks after the payment.’’ This statement from a senior official sums up the State Government’s attitude in handling the EGS fraud in Solapur.