Case 18 · Public money

Maharashtra irrigation. ₹70,000 crore spent, and almost no new irrigation

Surfaced 2012; clean chit 2019

Clean chit. The water never arrived.

5,066 days since Recorded outcome: Clean chit. The water never arrived..

Human cost

Farmers in a drought-prone state promised irrigation that a decade of spending did not deliver

Financial cost Est

About ₹70,000 crore spent over a decade for a reported rise in irrigation potential of roughly 0.1%

What happened

The state's own 2012 Economic Survey recorded that Maharashtra had spent close to ₹70,000 crore on irrigation over a decade while irrigation potential rose by a fraction of a percent. Project costs had been revised upward repeatedly and approvals cleared in bulk.

Claim against record

What the government said

Pawar denied wrongdoing throughout, said cost revisions reflected inflation and design changes, and points to the Anti-Corruption Bureau's clean chit.

What the record shows

Clean chit. The water never arrived.

The Deputy Chief Minister who chaired the relevant irrigation corporation resigned briefly and returned. A white paper was produced. The Anti-Corruption Bureau later gave him a clean chit in the cases examined. The gap between money spent and water delivered has never been explained by anyone.

Contested / alleged

Corruption is alleged and has not been established; the investigating agency itself cleared the principal figure. The spending figure and the irrigation figure are the state's own.

What accountability should have looked like

Irrigation potential audited against expenditure every year and published, so a decade cannot pass before anyone notices.

Ministers and office-holders responsible

Water Resources Minister and Vidarbha irrigation corporation chairman (NCP); later cleared by the ACBAjit Pawar
Approvals and cost revisionsMaharashtra Water Resources Department

Naming who held the portfolio is a matter of public record. It is not by itself a finding of personal responsibility for any death or any rupee.

Sources

T1 primary record · T2 reporting · T3 partisan

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Cite or export this case

Citizens' Accountability Ledger, "Maharashtra irrigation. ₹70,000 crore spent, and almost no new irrigation" (Surfaced 2012; clean chit 2019), case-81. https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-81/

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