Priyank Kharge alleges scandal in Ganga Kalyan scheme

He says Social Welfare Department favoured a few contractors of KBJNL by tweaking the tendering process

Congress MLA and former Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge has said that there is a “major scandal” in tendering of borewells under the Ganga Kalyana scheme being implemented by various corporations, including Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation and Adijambava Development Corporation, in the Social Welfare Department.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Kharge alleged that the BJP Government had favoured a few contractors of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd. and the Minor Irrigation Department, and they were given a contract for drilling 14,577 borewells for ₹431 crore for 2019-20 and 2020-21. Though 10-12 contractors of the KBJNL have no experience of drilling borewells, the Social Welfare Department had permitted them to drill borewells and violated the rules by denying contracts to “consortium of contractors”, he claimed.

By removing the clause “consortium of contractors” in the Government Order at the behest of the Social Welfare Minister, contract work was given to KBJNL contractors. While a consortium of contractors, which are in a few hundred, has expertise in drilling borewells and installation of pump-sets, KBJNL contractors, who have expertise in undertaking major irrigation works, have no expertise in drilling borewells, the Congress MLA alleged.

The MLA demanded scrapping of all tenders and blacklisting of contractors who participated in the bid by showing fake work certificates of past experience. The cost of each borewell drilling has been doubled from ₹94,000 to ₹1.83 lakh, Mr. Kharge said.

The Congress leader also demanded that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai sack the Social Welfare Minister who had indulged in massive irregularities in the tendering process. The BJP Government, which spoke volumes about poor people, looted the money allocated for providing borewells to small and marginal farmers of SCs and STs, he said.

Mr. Kharge levelled these charges against the government based on a reply given to a question during the legislature session.

The BJP Government, which has shown interest in screening The Kashmir Files film to legislators, should also take interest in the welfare of SCs and STs by proper utilisation of funds, Mr. Kharge said.