Apparently perturbed at the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on the Sujalam Sufalam (SS) water project, state’s Water Supply and Water Resources Minister Nitin Patel has vehemently refuted charges of gross irregularities in the project.

The CAG report (for the year ended on March 31, 2008) tabled in the state Assembly on Thursday had revealed gross irregularities worth Rs 1,123.80 crore in the multi-crore project.

But the minister, in fact, pooh-poohed the report.

Reacting to the audit observations made in the report, Patel told mediapersons on Friday that there could be some delay in implementing the project owing to various reasons. But “the delay cannot be considered as irregularities, as the CAG has pointed out in his report”, he said.

The minister contested the audit observations of the CAG and justified the government’s decision to award multiple contracts worth over Rs 396 crore to as many as 102 contractors for the work on spreading the canal of the water project, which contributed to an inordinate delay in completion of the project.

He also did not agree with the CAG’s observation that the four group water supply schemes completed at a cost of Rs 37.25 crore have not been accepted by the village panchayats because of the availability of water from other sources.

Patel said: “The government cannot discard a state transport bus just because five passengers are found travelling in it on a long-distance route. Likewise, we cannot discard the four group water supply schemes completed in 2006 under the SS project to provide potable water to as many as 123 villages in Palanpur division of Banaskantha. These schemes have been designed and executed with a vision so as to help people of these villages whenever they face a drought-like situation in the future.”

Referring to the audit observation that the state government did not obtain the Central aid of Rs 4,317.61 crore as anticipated for the project, Patel said the previous BJP-led NDA regime had agreed to provide the funds. But, it was “the misfortune of Gujarat that the NDA lost power at the Centre, and the UPA refused to provide the funds.”

The state government has made budgetary provisions for implementing the Rs 6,200-crore project, he said, adding that the work on various components of the project, such as the laying of pipelines, construction of canals and checkdams is being carried out without any hindrance. Of the 14 pipeline projects under the SS, six have been completed, he added.

The minister declined to comment when his attention was drawn to one of the recommendations made by the CAG that the government should take up projects only after preparing a feasibility report. He pleaded ignorance about the vital report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the state Assembly, which was prepared after detecting irregularities in the implementation of the project.