Bad news for Buta from Bihar

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NSCS) chairman Buta Singh seems to be in fresh trouble with the Bihar government ordering a high-level probe into allotment of Rs 900 crore project for construction of embankment along Bagmati river to an "undeserving" firm.

The embankment was breached on August one in Sitamarhi, rendering many homeless.

Water Resources Minister Virendra Yadav said the embankment construction work on the Bagmati river was given to Hindustan Steelworks Construction Limited (HSCL) in 2005 when Bihar was under President's Rule and Singh was the governor of the state.

"It is surprising that the work was awarded to the HSCL on nomination basis despite the fact that it had no no prior experience of constructing embankments," Yadav said.

"It came to the notice of the state government when the embankment of Bagmati breached in a stretch of 200 metres at Tilak Tajpur in Sitamarhi on August one, affecting people of eight panchayats under Sunnisayedpur block," he said..

Claiming that the work was given to the company without floating tenders, the minister said, "We don't want to take the blame for the mistake committed by others".

Yadav said the state government has ordered setting up of a high-level inquiry panel comprising of technical experts to look into the detailed project report formulated by the HSCL as well as the actual work done.