Karnataka govt to probe money allocated to Water Resources Dept during coalition rule?

Ever since the BJP came to power in Karnataka, the government has initiated probes into various schemes started by the two previous governments – the Congress-JD(S) coalition headed by Kumaraswamy, and the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office now say that the government is mulling over initiating a probe into monetary allocations made for the Water Resources Department during the coalition’s tenure. 

In the 2018-19 budget, the Congress-JD(S) coalition had allocated Rs 8,000 crore to the Water Resources Department. However, the department was sanctioned much more money – Rs 23,966 crore for various projects, the CMO source says.

“Money was to be allocated for 148 different works under the Water Resources Department. The budgetary allocation was Rs 8,000 crore but the amount sanctioned was much more than the amount allocated in the budget – there is almost a 300% increase. There was a drastic increase in the amount. There is a suspicion that the prices were inflated for some reason, which needs probing. The CM will discuss the issue in the cabinet meeting and take a call on a probe into the matter,” the CMO source adds.

CMO sources state that the coalition government had sanctioned Rs 1,933 crore to the Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Ltd, Rs 13,808 crore to the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd and Rs 8,225 crore to the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd.

“All the various water resources projects were supposed to have been allocated Rs 8,000 crore totally. The previous government allocated more money to agencies that cater to water resources development works in the constituencies where they (Congress and JD(S)) had been elected from. Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd was to be allocated more money than the other companies. If these works are stopped, then the contractors will move court, so we need to probe for discrepancies and then see what action can be taken,” the source says.

In August this year, the Yediyurappa government had ordered a probe into monetary allocation for the white topping and TenderSURE projects. Following this, the BJP corporators in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike had also alleged that there were massive discrepancies in the bills generated by Indira Canteens’ caterers. The state government had also launched a probe into this in August.