Besides Jain, who is MP from Jhansi, UP’s Chief Secretary Anoop Mishra accompanied Ahluwalia who inspected check-dams, dams, dug wells, food processing units and construction of rural roads at several villages on the second day of his visit.

Before leaving for Delhi by Shatabdi Express in the evening, Ahluwalia said he would send details of his findings in a letter to the governments of UP and MP. He heads the advisory panel meant for overseeing implementation of the Centre-approved Rs 7,266 crore drought mitigation package for Bundelkhand for a period of three years from 2009-10.

Ahluwalia’s visit comes at a time when the Congress is trying to reap political benefits from the Bundelkhand package in the coming Assembly elections. AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has attacked the ruling BSP of not utilising the package properly in the drought-prone region which comprises seven districts of UP, namely Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba and Jalaun and Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur, Damoh, Datia, Panna, Sagar and Tikamgarh districts.

“It was virtually BSP versus Congress in several villages, with Ahluwalia struggling to present himself as a non-partisan man,” said a source in Jhansi, adding that the Chief Secretary intervened at several places to defend the state government against the charges of the Union Minister.

The situation turned somewhat ugly at Pathrai village where Ahluwalia had gone to inspect a dam. “Jain alleged the villagers were not given ISI-approved pipes. At this, some engineers of the Minor Irrigation Department lost their patience and challenged Jain’s allegation regarding poor quality of the pipes. Two of them even told Jain they would not only resign from service but also forgo their pension if the pipes were found of poor quality,” a source said.

Ahluwalia first visited Sakrar village to inspect a check-dam. “He was disappointed after seeing its design and raised questions over the selection of contractors and quality of the construction work,” said a source.

At the site of Pathrai dam, however, Ahluwalia appreciated the lining and the capacity of water reservoir and was also happy with the flow of water, the source said.

At Vijaygarh, he himself dug up the road at one point and was clearly unhappy with the poor quality of the road. He stopped at a board displaying the details of expenditure incurred on construction of a dug well and remarked the information was misleading.

Ahluwalia visited Uldal village to inspect dug wells. “Several dug wells have collapsed. Out of 19 dug wells, 17 were in bad condition. Here, the Chief Secretary assured Ahluwalia that he would get these repaired,” the source further said.