The Government has also decided to inquire into the alleged irregularities in accepting the tender for the project.

The project to provide drinking water from the Narmada canal to Saurashtra was mooted and tenders were invited in 1993-94. But, alleging gross irregularities, the Suresh Mehta Government had scrapped the project in 1996.Again in 1997, the Shankarsinh Vaghela Government revived the project, apparently at the behest of the Congress which had been supporting the RJP government from outside.

The decision to scrap the project was announced by Water Supply Minister Narottam Patel and his deputy Harjivan Patel in a statement late on Friday evening. ``Now, we will invite fresh tenders for the project to provide drinking water from the Mahi canal rather than the Narmada canal as had beenenvisaged by the Congress and the RJP governments'', the BJP ministers said.

Narottam Patel alleged that the RJP Government had not only granted an ad hoc 20 per cent increase in the offers by the contractors, but approved price escalation of 30 per cent and mobilisation advance of 30 per cent. Besides, certain specifications listed in the original tender were changed. ``All this smacks of gross irregularities in awarding the tender to the contractors'', he alleged.

He said the proposal in the original tender to use ``prestressed'' pipes was made despite the technical advice against it. Now, we propose to use steel pipes for the new project'', he said. The Minister said fresh tenders would be invited shortly and processed within three months. The Government is committed to providing 250 million litres per day (mlpd) drinking water to Amreli, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad districts as well as the Bhal region, he claimed.

When contacted, former RJP chief minister Dilip Parikh and energy minister Vipul Chaudharysaid the BJP Government's move to ``politicise'' the issue would only delay the project and deprive the people of drinking water. They refuted the BJP allegations that there were irregularities in the original tender.