7 officials chargesheeted for giving ‘misleading’ info

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24

More than a year and a half after The Tribune exposed a scam in desilting of the Ghaggar in Sirsa, the Irrigation Department has stated in response to an RTI plea that three subdivisional engineers and four junior engineers have been charge-sheeted for providing “misleading information”.

In the report “Ghaggar desilted with bike, Alto”, published on January 7 last year, The Tribune had exposed on the basis of an RTI reply as to how vehicle registration numbers mentioned by the Irrigation Department to be of tractors and JCB machines used by it for desilting of Ghaggar by spending over Rs 1 crore were actually of a motorcycle, a car and a scooter.

A day after the report was carried in these columns, the department had dispatched another reply to information seeker Surender Sardana, providing him registration numbers different from earlier ones.

The Executive Engineer in the Ghaggar Water Services Division, Sirsa, now informed Sardana that subdivisional engineers Amit Nain, Kamal Singh Solanki and Vivek Boora were issued charge sheet by the Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Water Services Department, through a letter dated August 30 received by his office for providing him “misleading information”.

Junior engineers Raghubir Sharma, Abhinav, Naresh Gothal and Naresh Majok were issued charge sheet in the April this year, the reply said.

Last year, in response to an RTI application by Sardana on the nature of work carried out and the money spent on flood-control measures between 2015 and 2017, the department had specified registration numbers of tractors and JCB machines used for various works.

Enquiries from the Transport Department had revealed that one of the registration numbers mentioned in the reply had been allotted to a Bajaj motorcycle while another was of a Maruti Alto car.

Inquiry revealed that an Activa scooter registered on the name of Renu Bala was shown as a tractor used for filling empty cement bags with earth and carrying these to the Ghaggar to strengthen its bundh, besides the use of auto-rickshaws and motorcycles to desilt the Ghaggar.

After the report was published in these columns, the Irrigation Department had provided a contradictory reply with different registration numbers of vehicles. Not satisfied, Sardana sought information as to what action had been taken in this regard.

When no reply was received, Sardana approached the State Information Commission. Upon directions by SIC Samir Mathur, the department had informed him about seven officials being charge-sheeted.

In the same reply, the department had said, “As per the PWD Code applicable from November 1, 2009, there is no instruction that the department will maintain a record of registration numbers of vehicles engaged for execution of work.”

Total recall

In the report “Ghaggar desilted with bike, Alto”, published on January 7 last year, The Tribune had exposed on the basis of an RTI reply as to how vehicle registration numbers mentioned by the Irrigation Department to be of tractors and JCB machines used by it for desilting of Ghaggar by spending over Rs 1 crore were actually of a motorcycle, a car and a scooter.