BELLARY: A contractor has been given excess payment while the scheme is yet to be completed. This incident came to light on Wednesday when N. Suryanarayan Reddy, Kurgodu MLA, visited the Badanahatti Lift Irrigation Scheme.

The scheme, estimated to cost Rs. 98 lakh, was approved in 1999 at a pickup near Badanahatti. The scheme, on completion, would irrigate 600 acres of land belonging to poor and marginal farmers, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Work on a jackwell and pumps was completed two years ago. Power connection has been provided. But work on the canal and field channels is still pending. Officials of the Minor Irrigation Department have blamed the contractor for the delay.

They said the contractor had drawn excess amount for the work done by him. He was delaying work on the canal and the field channels.

A revised estimate was prepared taking the cost to Rs. 1.20 crore and the additional amount has also been released.

The officials, who said that efforts were on to recover the excess amount, did not have an answer as to when the scheme would be completed. While expressing helplessness, the officials, however, said they required Rs. 16 lakh more for laying the canal and field channels.

Agitated by the style of functioning of the department and also over the undue delay in completing the project, people from various villages in Kurgodu staged a dharna on Wednesday at Kurgodu town, under the leadership of Mr. Suryanarayan Reddy. They sought steps to ensure water release by August. They withdrew the dharna when the chief engineer of the Minor Irrigation Department spoke to Mr. Suryanarayan Reddy over phone promising to stick to the deadline. Mr. Suryanarayan Reddy told presspersons that some of the officials were hand-in-glove with the contractor and blamed them for the delay. He urged the officials to file a criminal complaint against the contractor besides taking steps to complete the works.

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