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Farmers and activists in Maharashtra fear that the new alliance between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Ajit Pawar and the BJP may end up burying the alleged Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam involving top NCP leaders, including Pawar.
The scam was unearthed after Maharashtra’s Economic Survey in 2012 reported that the irrigation potential of the state had increased by only 0.1 per cent despite Rs 70,000 crore spent on various projects over a decade. Later, the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) informed the Bombay High Court about major lapses on the part of Pawar and other government officials. Pawar, along with other NCP ministers, was in charge of the irrigation department between 1999 and 2014 under the Congress-NCP regime in Maharashtra.
During the 2014 and 2019 state elections, the BJP had made the irrigation scam its main election plank, targeting Pawar directly. The irrigation scam relates to alleged corruption, cost escalation, irregularities in the approval and execution of projects, inflation of tenders, and allocation of work to specific contractors.
Irrigation politics?
“Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare, and other NCP leaders have been facing the probe and BJP leaders had earlier tweeted that these leaders will soon land in jail. These leaders had taken up the matter with NCP President Sharad Pawar (also Ajit’s uncle) and demanded that the party join hands with the BJP. But (Sharad) Pawar refused as he wants to play a major role in the anti-BJP alliance that is taking shape at the Centre,” a close aide of Ajit Pawar told BusinessLine.
While activists are fighting the cases related to the scam and filing PILs in courts, the role of the state and Union governments is vital to make any headway in the probe. While BJP leaders have kept mum on the issue, activists allege that Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders have joined hands with the BJP for a specific purpose. Activist Vishwabhar Choudhary said in a social media post that, in the coming year, Pawar and the other NCP leaders will seek a clean chit in all the cases and “end ED’s fear”.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently spoke to BJP MLAs and other leaders in Mumbai to address the concern. BJP cadre in the state is unhappy with the NCP faction joining hands with the party. Fadnavis reportedly said that the party has followed orders from the high command and that everyone must work to ensure that the BJP gets the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections.
Worried farmers
In Maharashtra, about 20 per cent ofarable land is under irrigation while the rest is dependent on monsoon showers, with even a few days’ delay in rains disrupting the agriculture cycle.
Raju Hinge, who owns agricultural land in Pune, says farmers in the state have suffered heavily due to incomplete and delayed irrigation projects. Maharashtra tops in farmer suicides, as the lack of irrigation facility and dependence on monsoon push many farmers into distress, he said.
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