A day after Bihar Water Resources Department Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh blamed an underpass constructed by the NTPC for weakening the Bateshwarsthan canal at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur, the NTPC on Thursday denied that the underpass caused any breach in the canal as it was constructed after procuring a no-objection certificate from the government.
‘No flaw detected’
“The underpass constructed by the NTPC in the Bateshwarsthan canal had a wing and returning walls as required and the NOC papers, besides other documents, show that there was no flaw detected in the design,” Rakesh Samuel, group general manager of NTPC’s Kahalgaon unit, told local journalists. He said the NTPC management was ready to cooperate with the Bihar government in rectifying the problem in the canal which breached a day ahead of its inauguration.
Another NTPC executive said the underpass was constructed before the canal was built and “had there been any design-related flaw it should have been brought to the notice of the NTPC by the constructing agencies”.
“We screened at different levels and found that there was no technical flaw in the underpass and it had not weakened the canal,” he said.
However, a day after a portion of the Bateshwarsthan Ganga Pump Nahar Yojna (BGPNY) was breached in, the State WRD Minister and the department secretary Arun Kumar Singh had blamed the underpass constructed in the canal by the NTPC for weakening it. “A portion in the canal near the underpass constructed by the NTPC has breached and it seems the construction of the underpass might have weakened the canal at that place causing the breach when water flowed into the canal before it was inaugurated,” Mr. Singh said.
The BGPNY canal was to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday, but a portion of it breached on Tuesday evening, causing a flood-like situation in some residential parts of the NTPC and other areas.
The incident had caused a great embarrassment to the NDA government in Bihar which later ordered a probe.
Another scam: RJD
The opposition RJD took a dig on the government saying “after rats, now crocodiles must have caused a breach in the canal just a day before it was to be inaugurated…it’s another scam in the Nitish Kumar government and we demand a high-level inquiry into it”.
The JD(U) and BJP leaders attacked RJD chief Lalu Prasad for questioning the government on “morality”. “At least on the issues of morality and corruption Lalu Prasad has no right to say anything,” said Rajiv Ranjan Singh.
