Dehradun. Suryadhar Barrage is the dream project of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, therefore no negligence and irregularity will be tolerated in its construction. The above thing was said by the state irrigation minister Satpal Maharaj here today while giving a written order to the Secretary Irrigation of this project.

On analyzing the reply given by the department on the information sought by the government related to the construction of Suryadhar Barrage, it was found that there are disturbances at many levels in the construction of Suryadhar Barrage. Today, the irrigation minister has given special orders. While ordering a special investigation of the construction of Suryadhar Dam Project, the dream project of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the irrigation minister Satpal Maharaj today said that 4100 lakhs have been paid so far against the cost of Rs 1837.34 lakhs. There is probably more to be done.

Maharaj said in his order that the subject matter to be considered is that after the DPR is available, the committee’s report for the height of the barrage from 8 meters to 10 meters was conducted on 6 September 2018 from IIT Ahmedabad to VAT and IRI Roorkee, a model study. Despite why the tender was not revived and the contract signed.

Satpal Maharaj has said in his order that the committee being referred has not recommended any increase in height in his report. The technical advisor advised to carry out additional tasks on 11 June 2019, what was the rationale for this advice not received before contracting.

Maharaj in his order asked whether permission was obtained from the administration to appoint an advisor and whether the permission of the government was obtained by conducting a technical examination of the works before accepting his advice. This is the reason for which the irrigation minister has ordered a special investigation of works related to the construction of Suryadhar Barrage.

The irrigation minister has instructed the secretary of irrigation to also check that when the contract was done on the basis of old height 8 meters, not on the basis of increased height, while the decision to increase the height before inviting tender. Had been taken which happened in the order of oral instructions of the Chief Engineer. Maharaj said that the basis for carrying out departmental works is the departmental schedule of rate, how and why it included the market rates is also not clear in estimating the cost of the tender. Therefore it will also be investigated.

Irrigation Minister Satpal Maharaj ordered Secretary Irrigation to investigate the construction work of Suryadhar Barrage, civil works were done at a rate 20 percent higher than the schedule of rate and additional works were also done under the same contract rate due to which the entire work was about 62.00 Crores were made, which is about 12 crores more than the approved amount of 50. 24 crores for the scheme. Expenditure of 12.00 crores from the sanctioned amount is a misuse of government money.

It is worth mentioning that the Suryadhar Dam Project will provide sufficient irrigation for 1287 hectares of land in 18 villages of Bhogpur, Ghamandpur, and Listradabad. With the construction of this reservoir, about 33500 people will get relief from the drinking water problem. It may be known that on 27 August 2020, Irrigation Minister Satpal Maharaj of the Suryadhar Barrage Construction Project had expressed his displeasure over increasing the project cost after conducting terrestrial inspection and asked to investigate it.