17 borewells vanish, seen only in records!

Sowmya Aji Mehu / TNN / Mar 28, 2006, 23:47 IST

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17 of Mallya's borewells have vanished. They were not dug at all, though all the bills to drill them have been paid to the last paisa to the contractors.

17 borewells vanish, seen only in records!

BANGALORE: Can a borewell vanish? It can, and it does. This is the Karnataka version of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scam.
MPLAD money, given by Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya, has been swallowed up by borewells in the parched Raichur district.
Seventeen of Mallya's borewells have vanished. They were not dug at all, though all the bills to drill them have been paid to the last paisa to the contractors.
Rural development and panchayat raj officials claim the scam is just "routine,"being duplicated all over the country. An irritated Mallya complained to the then Union programme implementation minister Oscar Fernandes.

Following this, the Raichur deputy commissioner ordered an inquiry by the assistant commissioner (Lingsugur). As per the report submitted to the state government, only nine of the 23 borewells sanctioned for Lingsugur taluk have even been recorded as dug, though bills for all 23 have been paid.
"The nine boreholes were inspected. Only three boreholes fitted with hand pumps are functioning (Kambara Doddi, Medakinala and Ane Hosur 2); except some dump, no borehole is seen at Kannal, Hunukunti and Neerelakere; handpumps are damaged and need repairs at Ane Hosur 1, Gajjelagatta and Yelagatta,"says the report.

As the scam unravelled, the AC (Lingsugur) recommended to the then Raichur ZP CEO to investigate bills for the past five years.
The inquiry uncovered the "reported"digging of as many as 2,200 borewells in Raichur and Lingsugur taluks. The Raichur ZP's engineering division told the probe team: "We do not have bills for 500 of these borewells.
Also, no records exist for them."The scam unravelled faked measurement books; borewell bills that the books themselves admit: 'Rs 27,360 paid for construction of school buildings'; pages of measurement books torn off and village names erased or struck off or rewritten.
No signatures, no record of drilling, yet all bills paid. The then Raichur ZP CEO - who has since been transferred - filed FIRs against officials concerned. The report is with the CM's office.

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