PAC slams govt for protecting guilty in Gosekhurd scam

The BJP that had raised a ruckus in the Assembly when in opposition over the irrigation scam on Tuesday made a U-turn over the issue . Not a single guilty bureaucrat has been punished in the multi-crore Gosekhurd irrigation scam of Vidarbha till now.

This was revealed in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report which was released late last week. In fact, the guilty officers have been given promotion and those who have retired are receiving all the post-retirement benefits from the BJP-led government.

The PAC report on the Water Resources Department was tabled in state legislature last week. The PAC has recommended that the government take action against the guilty officers. The report said that this 33-year old project has achieved only 19% of its planned irrigation target.

The PAC report mentioned that two government committees, Mendhegiri and Vadnere, which conducted an inquiry into the irregularities held 12 and 15 officials guilty respectively. The report pointed out, “No action was taken against them till 2014, as a result of which some of the officers were even given promotion. Since they were not suspended, they even got an opportunity to change documents.”

The PAC also discarded the water resource department’s argument that the delay was caused due to the huge time spent in photocopying documents to be sent for hearing.