Water-tank scam: Sukhbir OSD ‘gets away’

MANSA: Harendra Sra, officer on special duty to deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, was given a clean chit on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after HT published a report highlighting how the panel members probing water tank scam feared repercussions if their report held him at fault.

The three-member inquiry committee includes industries and commerce department general manager, besides the executive engineers of public health and panchayati raj departments.

“I have received the report which mentions that water tanks distributed on the first day of sangat darshan meet all specifications and have no quality issues,” said deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma.

The panel members, appointed to probe the purchase of substandard water tanks, had not met even once till Monday. One of the panel members had also confided that they were not provided the specifications of the probe, leaving them clueless.

“I have submitted the report to deputy commissioner and he can better respond about its details,” said executive engineer of public health. 47 water tanks were purchased at a cost of ₹57 lakh, but the probe panel checked the quality of only 15 water tanks which were distributed to village panchayat by Harsimrat Kaur Badal in July.

Some of the sarpanches said that they were asked to send the water tanks to their respective block development offices, but they could not reach the venue. After drawing a lot of flak over the water tank scam, deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said that the report submitted by the panel will be made public.

PANEL MEMBERS REMAIN TIGHTLIPPED OVER REPORT SUBMITTED TO MANSA DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ON WEDNESDAY