Denying any truth in charges of impropriety made by Opposition BJP leader Jagadish Shettar in awarding tender for works on Malaprabha canal tributaries, Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil on Saturday said the department had not yet even invited tenders for taking up modernisation of the canal.
He said the works would be taken after completion of a survey. At a press conference here, Mr. Patil dubbed Mr. Shettar’s charge of fraud of Rs. 964 crore in the canal modernisation works as “frivolous and baseless”.
Mr. Shettar had levelled charges against the department to cover up the previous BJP government’s “failure” to resolve the inter-State Mahadayi river water dispute, Mr. Patil claimed.
Farmers in the Malaprabha basin were suffering because the canals were filled with filth, he said, and added that remodelling the age-old canals would increase the flow of water in them.
