Tariq for judicial probe into canal breach

PATNA: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general secretary and Katihar MP

Tariq Anwar

on Wednesday demanded a judicial probe into the breach in the Bateshwar Ganga Pump Nahar Pariyojana canal at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district on Tuesday, a day before CM Nitish Kumar was to inaugurate it on Wednesday.

Tariq also demanded resignation of state water resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh.

“This was a Rs 828-crore project. The breach should be probed by a sitting judge of the Patna high court as it is clear that quality was compromised while executing the project,” Anwar said.

He also demanded monitoring of the CBI probe into the Srijan scam by the high court or Supreme Court. The scam involves fraudulent transfer of government money in collusion with district and bank officials as well as politicians for private business purposes.

“As things stand today, people have lost faith in the CBI as it is misused by the government at the Centre. The ongoing CBI probe into the Srijan scam can lead to a logical conclusion only if the probe is monitored by the Supreme Court or the high court,” Tariq said, claiming glaring similarity between the fodder scam in which RJD chief Lalu Prasad has been convicted and the Srijan scam.

Tariq, who was accompanied by party’s state spokesman Anil Kishore Jha, attributed reports of likely split in the Bihar Congress to the machinations of BJP’s national leaders, including PM Narendra Modi.

Citing the experience of the opposition in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat where Congress MLAs were “lured away by BJP”, the NCP leader said the BJP tries to split any opposition party that is vulnerable to it. “However, the country cannot be made Congress free as Congress loyalists live in every nook and corner of the country,” he said.