The serious allegations leveled by the former MLA have brought the Jal Jeevan Mission under question.
Bhopal. Allegations of a big scam in the name of Jal Jeevan Mission have surfaced in Madhya Pradesh. Former MLA Kishore Samarite has written a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) claiming that there has been a huge irregularity of about Rs 30 thousand crore in this scheme. The special thing is that the order to investigate this scam was issued by Sanjay Andhavan, Engineer-in-Chief (ENC) of Public Health Engineering Department (PHE), in which direct allegations were made against the departmental minister Sampatiya Uikey himself.
Controversy arose from the complaint sent to the PMO
The whole matter started on April 12, when former MLA Kishore Samarite sent a complaint to the PMO about the corruption taking place in the Jal Jeevan Mission. According to the complaint, huge bribes were being taken in the tender process and the minister himself was involved in it. After this, on 24 April, this complaint was sent to the state government, and under the departmental process, on 21 June, this file reached Engineer-in-Chief Sanjay Andhavan.
Minister’s name in the investigation order, instructions for property investigation
The names of Minister Sampatiya Uike, Mandla’s Executive Engineer Manoj Bhaskar and former ENC BK Sonagariya were included in the investigation order issued on 21 June. It was clearly written in the order that, investigate the funding of Jal Jeevan Mission, the role of the minister, the property of the executive engineer and submit the report in seven days.
The responsibility of investigation was handed over to the Project Director and Area Chief Engineer of Jal Nigam. However, this order went viral on social media on Monday, causing a stir.
Big allegation of former MLA
Former MLA Samrite has written in the letter that, a commission of Rs 1 thousand crore was taken by Minister Sampatiya Uike. This amount was collected through Mandla’s Executive Engineer Manoj Bhaskar and former ENC BK Sonagaria collected Rs 2000 crore through his accountant Mahendra Khare. Bribes of Rs 1000 crore each were also taken in PIU and Jal Nigam.
He has demanded a CBI inquiry from the central government and alleged that an engineer in Betul withdrew Rs 150 crore without doing any work. Similar fake payments were made in Chhindwara and Balaghat. CE Mechanical passed tenders worth Rs 2200 crore and grabbed the amount without doing any work.
After the investigation order went viral on social media, ENC Sanjay Andhavan clarified that the complaint was investigated, but no concrete documents were found in it. Referring to the report of the Chief Engineer of Balaghat, he said, “The complaint is factless and fabricated. There was no original document in the complaint, only departmental letters obtained through RTI were made the basis.” He also said that the implementation and payment of Jal Jeevan Mission is done at the local level, so the ENC and the minister are not directly responsible.
Now the questions
- Will there be a high-level inquiry against the minister and officials?
- Was the departmental order withdrawn or suppressed?
- What stand will the government take on the authenticity of the viral order on social media?
The serious allegations leveled by the former MLA have brought the Jal Jeevan Mission under question. If the investigation is fair and transparent, it can reveal layers of corruption in the administrative structure of Madhya Pradesh.
What is Jal Jeevan Mission?
Jal Jeevan Mission is an ambitious scheme of the Central Government, which aims to provide drinking water through pipes to every household in the country. Crores of rupees are allocated to the states under this scheme.
Courtesy : Ankit Pachauri, Hindi News