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Journalism of Courage
Acting on a complaint by the son of a senior BJP leader, Chhattisgarh Lokayog Justice K.M. Aggarwal has sent notices to Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar and four other top government officials in the case of award of a major irrigation canal contract to a Hyderabad-based private firm.
While Kumar is slated to retire this month end, one of the senior officials named in the complaint, Sushil Trivedi, who was then secretary in the Water Resources Department, has already retired. A senior Lokayog official said the accused have been asked to file their replies by Feburary 10.
The Rs 173-crore contract for the 18-km-long Mini Mata Hasdeo Bango Irrigation Canal Project was awarded to M/S Prasad and Co by the Chhattisgarh government in Feburary 2002 on a turn-key basis. The initial cost was estimated at Rs 75 crore in 2000, later revised to Rs 117 crore in 2001. A year later, the same work was awarded for Rs 173 crore — almost Rs 98 crore higher than the original cost.
The ‘‘discrepancy’’ was first raised by senior BJP MLA Brij Mohan Aggarwal, who filed an affidavit before the MP Lokayukta in June 2002.
