Opposition says irrigation report sham

Opposition parties have taken exception to the irrigation report submitted before the cabinet, calling it "sham" and threatening to disrupt the upcoming assembly session until concrete action is taken against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare, who were minsters of the department.

"It seems Chief Minster Prithviraj Chavan has come under the influence of NCP.

"A man who promotes transparency is now shielding the corrupt," leader of opposition Eknath Khadse said.

BJP claimed the government tabled a status report, did not answer questions about mismanagement in the irrigation department.

"It seems to be a status report containing information available publicly. They seem to have juggled with numbers to show the area brought under irrigation is not 0.1 per cent as previously claimed," Khadse said.

He said BJP would bring out a "black paper" on the irrigation scam to expose alleged state trickery.

"We will bring out a black paper in the next five days.

"We will also ensure the upcoming assembly session is not conducted smoothly till the government acts against Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare," Khadse said.

Shiv Sena, meanwhile, said the state considerably delayed tabling the report and seems to be buying time till the 2014 elections to tackle issues of corruption.

The party said it will check facts of the report before taking on the government.

"We will crosscheck findings of the report with information from the ground. "We will take this government to task if there is discrepancy," Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said.

Kejriwal's party prepares 'black paper'

Mumbai: IN response to the white paper on irrigation over the past decade prepared by Maharashtra's Water Resources Department (WRD), the Aam Aadmi Party has prepared an exhaustive "black paper" on the issue.

It would be released by Arvind Kejriwal at Roha on December 2 in Raigad district, political stronghold of irrigation minister Sunil Tatkare.

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