Vijay Pandhare, an engineer employed by the government claimed that more than half the amount had been pocketed by corrupt leaders.
[3] During 14–19 December 2009, the Marathi-language newspaper Loksatta carried a series of articles, accusing Pawar of awarding two projects worth ₹1,385 crore to the builder-cum-contractor named Avinash Bhonsle, at an inflated cost.
In 2012, the State's economic survey mentioned that the irrigation potential had grown by just 0.1% in the past decade, leading to criticism by the Opposition.
In this letter, he alleged that more than half the amount spent on the irrigation projects between 1999 and 2009 had been pocketed by the corrupt politicians and contractors.
He highlighted specific instances of corruption including cost escalations, unnecessary additions to the project scope and poor-quality construction.
He also accused the corrupt leaders of "playing with citizens' lives", saying that the construction quality had been seriously compromised in the dam projects.
[3] In August 2012, a non-profit organization called Jan Manch petitioned the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court to order an inquiry into the irregularities.
[6] In October, Ashish Khetan of Tehelka alleged that Pawar changed the administrative processes to handle the files pertaining to the new projects, overruled the officers who flagged the violations, ensured advance payments to the contractors, overlooked delays and accepted poor-quality work.
The Nagpur-based businessman Ajay Sancheti, who later became a BJP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), also got irrigation contracts worth more than ₹3,000 crores.
The Pune-based contractor, whose identity is being withheld by this newspaper on his request, wrote a strong letter to the state government and governor recently, highlighting the modus operandi in the scam-tainted department.
Last week, the state government gave its nod to the Anti-Corruption Bureau to start an open inquiry against former water resources minister Ajit Pawar and his successor Sunil Tatkare for their alleged role in the multi-crore irrigation scam.
Over the past few months, the state government has tried to revamp the scam-tainted department by posting bureaucrats with a "clean track record".
[8] Subsequently, in November 2019, the Maharashtra Government released a whitepaper, which gave a clean chit to Ajit Pawar.