Bhatia has recommended suspension of three of the then superintending engineers, four executive engineers - who were later elevated - three deputy engineers, 18 junior engineers and two accountants.

The Divisional Commissioner has recommended criminal proceedings against former chief engineer S E Bhelke, assistant chief engineer S G Bagul and two superintending engineers K A Deshmukh and K D Deshpande for shielding the ``organised corruption''.

``These officials were well aware of these misdeeds,'' Bhatia said adding that deliberate suppression of these facts indicates their collusion and conspiracy.

The report was faxed to the State Government yesterday, sources told this paper.

The Divisional Commissioner had been asked in August 1996 to probe into the charges of corruption and irregularities in renovation of the Neera left bank canal in eastern Pune district in 1988-1991.

Bhaita has censured at least four senior irrigation officials for shielding their corrupt colleagues discerning the ineffectiveness of intra-departmental inquiries. The Divisinonal Commissioner, in his report, has made it a point that the irrigation department vigilance squad which was vested with the responsibility of undertaking preliminary investigations into the corruption charges deliberately shielded the guilty officials.

The vigilance squad headed by a superintending engineer presented three reports to the government, two in March 1991 and one in April 1991. But none spoke of any corruption.

Interestingly, mentions Bhatia, none of these reports and remarks presented by various officials at various levels including the then PIC chief engineer, an assistant chief engineer and a joint secretary who physically had checked the work at the canal, had mentioned the corruption and irregularities in the Neera work.

Bhatia has sought a detailed inquiry into the work done on entire 153 kilometer stretch of the Neera canal, since the corruption charges worth over Rs 187 lakh which he probed into, were confined to the work on just 42 kilometers.

The initial inquiry was launched following a complaint from then vigilance section deputy engineer S P Kulkarni alleging several irregularities in the renovation of the Neera left bank canal. Bhatia report said that the irrigation department officials never accounted several cubic meters of silt excavated from the canal resulting into misappropriation to the tune of Rs 79.75 lakh.

Officials then attached to Neera, Pandare and Baramati sub-divisions siphoned off over Rs 70 lakh by creating false transport reports for earth and rubble brought in for the canal embankment work. Transport costs were inflated by recording false transport distances despite the fact that the earth and rubble were brought in from the nearby vicinity.

Bhatia found that bills worth Rs 34.58 lakh were paid for drenching and compacting work of the canal embankment which were never done. Bhatia holds former PIC chief engineer and his colleagues guilty of deliberately suppressing the facts which blatantly violated Maharashtra Public Works Rules.