NEPALGUNJ, Dec 12: Ever since construction work started on the Sikta Irrigation Project in 2005, the political party in power at the time and departmental ministers have initiated a trend of transferring the director and other project staff as they pleased. Ruling party leaders from the central to the district level have all been milking the project no end.

They have been eyeing the project resources, using its budget and channeling the construction contracts to their own kith and kin. Local party leaders and cadres have been misusing the resources of the project, invoking the names of various ministers.

As a result of political meddling, project officials with corrupt tendencies have had greater sway at the project than their more honest colleagues. Locals from the area where the canals under the project were built claimed that the political meddling was are the root cause of all the corruption .

“The root cause of the irregularities is political interference,” Shreedhar Upadhyaya, a local, said, adding, “Every local resident shares this opinion.” Upadhyaya, who is a former local leader of the Nepali Congress, said the changing of the guard at the project according to the whims of ministers has caused all the corruption and irregularities .

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a case against 21 employees, contractors and consultants of the project for irregularities amounting to as much as Rs 8 billion .

Former minister Bikram Pandey is currently facing corruption charges also . He is chief of CTCE/Kalika Construction Company, which is overseeing construction of the project. However, the ministers and successive project directors have managed to keep the CIAA at bay.

The western canal of the project was built for a capacity of 50 cumecs. But it could not even withstand a flow of 5 cumecs during a trial run. The western canal and parts of the canal at the Jharjhari River were damaged during trials on June 28, 2016 and on July 23, 2018 respectively. Sections of the canal from the headworks in Banke to a point at 17.7 kilometers and from there to 35 kilometers are in a pitiful state. Both these sections were constructed by CTCE/Kalika Construction.

Construction of the project, which was initially opposed by India, picked up pace after the headworks was inaugurated by then irrigation minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. Project insiders recall that corruption gained a foothold after the construction of the main canal started.

At first, Krishna Raj Timalsina was appointed the director of the project through political influence. He was followed by Sarbadev Jaisal . After a new government came to power, Dilip Karki became director. After Karki, Saroj Pandit was appointed director under the auspices of the then irrigation minister, it is stated.

It was during Pandit's stint that the Sikta project saw the most irregularities. According to the project office, this was when the canal section from the 17.7 km to 35 km points was constructed. The second trial run was also conducted during his tenure. But Pandit went on to become director general of the Department of Irrigation .

After Pandit, Ramesh Basnet was appointed director . And immediately after the minister of irrigation changed, Maheshwar Narsingh KC became the new director. But with the advent of Barsaman Pun as irrigation minister, Basnet was reinstated as project director .

It was under Basnet that the second trial of the canal was conducted. After this trial also flopped, Basnet was transferred by Pun to save him from any accusations. Krishna Prasad Nepal is the current director.

Officials from the project claim that political meddling has spawned a negative ethos at the project since the very beginning. “As a result, the project staff, contractors and consultants are now all facing corruption charges.”

 
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