Karnataka Minister for Water Resources, MB Patil has been accused of supplying water to industries instead of drought-hit villages and farmers in Gadag district.
BJP state President, BS Yeddyurappa, during his drought-assessment tour to Gadag, accused MB Patil of giving 7 TMCft water to Jindal industries instead of supplying drinking water to parched areas.
“Minister MB Patil has no concern for the people in villages who are facing water shortage. In April, he had announced that all the water in reservoirs across Karnataka would be supplied for drinking purpose only. Now he is supplying 7 TMCft water to Jindal industries when people have no water to drink,” Yeddyurappa told media persons.
The veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister also accused MB Patil of being involved in large scale irregularities in the modernisation works of the Ghataprabha and Malaprabha canals.
“MB Patil will lose his position in the cabinet if these irregularities are probed. When the modernisation of the canal was proposed, engineers had submitted a project report and had estimated the cost of the construction to be Rs 400 crore. Patil had pressurised on these engineers and told them to change the estimated cost to Rs 800 crore,” Yeddyurappa alleged.
In addition, the BJP President stated that the chief engineer of the project, had disagreed with Minister MB Patil on the issue of falsifying the cost of the project estimate.
“Because the chief engineer of the project disagreed with MB Patil, he was transferred with 24 hours,” he said.
Yeddyurappa then demanded that the Water Resource Ministry must disclose details of the project, the contractors involved and the project agreement.
“These details must be made public. Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) is claiming that his government is scam-free and claims to be a transparent one. Has this daylight robbery has not come to his notice?” Yeddyurappa ridiculed the Congress leaders.