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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Former Union Minister for textile k. Sambasiva Rao booked along with 33 others in Temghar dam leakage case

It is now crystal clear that members of all the major political parties are involved Temghar dam leakage case . Though former union minister of textiles Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and 33 others have been booked, It is alleged that the company Soma Enterprises Limited that proudly received an award for excellence in Temghar masonry Dam award at the hands of Nationalist Congress Party Leader(NCP) and then irrigation minister Ajit Pawar has been being spared intentionally. Contractor, hotelier, and power-broker Avinash Bhosale, who has many political contacts is believed to be closely associated with Soma enterprises

Soma proudly announces that it has completed Temghar dam project but its name doesn't appear in FIR or any other report .Interestingly Ishwar chaudhari Superintending Engineer of the Water Resources Department who hadn't mentioned names of soma enterprises and progressive construction in his technical paper submitted to the first dam safety conference held in Chennai in 2015 have been promoted to chief engineer immediately after FIR has been filed. Chaudhari had named only Srinivas constructions in his paper .And where about of Srinivas constructions are untraceable.

In Temghar Dam leakage case in Maharashtra, the Pune rural police have lodged a first information report against 25 government officials and nine people from two private firms (Progressive Constructions Ltd and Srinivas Constructions) for allegedly using substandard material and misappropriation of funds meant for construction work at the Temghar Dam in Mulshi taluka of Pune district.The case has been registered under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 467 (forgery),468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Kavuri Sambasiva Rao was a contractor and owns Progressive Constructions, which has executed several mega infrastructure projects. The company has bagged multi-million rupees contracts from the governments. Rao was long time Indian National Congress ( INC) associate and had joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014. The World Bank has banned progressive Constructions for a period of 11 years( I.e up to 2024) for fraudulent practices in execution of three road contracts of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), such sanctions when imposed do not allow the company and any legal entity involved with it to work on any of the contracts where World Bank is engaged .

All other agencies were supposed to take serious note of this development while awarding any contracts. However in India when a company is associated with the member of political party nothing matters. As well employees from around 10 banks had staged a protest in front of Progressive Constructions Limited (PCL) owned by Kavuri Sambasiva Rao alleging that the company has not repaid loans amounting to hundreds of crores.

Soma enterprises Ltd is another company involved in the Temghar Dam Leakage case.Office bearers of it being closely related to NCP and INC,it is obvious that its name doesn't figure in FIR because it . Soma belongs to Contractor, hotelier, and power-broker Avinash Bhosale. SOMA has completed Nira Deoghar Earth Dam, Prakash Barrage Project, Purna Project, Takari Pump House, Tarali Dam, Bhosa - Khind Tunnel and Approach Canal and Temghar Dam projects.And its ongoing projects Babhali Barrage , Dhapewada Barrage , Digras Barrage , R.C.C Dam across Vaitarna River and IV Mumbai Water Supply Project ( Mumbai Municipal corporation project where Shiv Sena BJP Rules).

Interestingly then BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had released portions of chitale committee appointed to investigate the irregularities in the state's irrigation projects. He had put the onus on deputy CM Ajit Pawar and members of the governing council of the irrigation corporation for the irregularities in the state's irrigation projects. However now the way things are taking place it is hardly that anybody really involved in the irrigation scam or temghar leakage case will be brought to the justice.

The case has been registered against

Srinivas construction pvt ltd

1) V. D. Naidu

2) shree. D . nivas

3) smt D.laxmi kantamma

4) smt V Hema Malini

5) Venugopal Choudhary

6) shree T. V. rammaiyya

7)D Babu

Progressive construction pvt Ltd

8) K. Sambasiva Rao

9) M Rajendra prasad

Other officers related to work

10) R. V. Javdekar ( Executive engineer)

11) C.S.deokar ( Executive engineer)

12)S.L. Vaidya ( Executive engineer)

13) A.S.More ( Executive engineer)

14) D.S.Godse (sub-divisional engineer)

15) J.N.Lolap (sub-divisional engineer)

16) S.M.Patil (sub-divisional engineer)

17) R.B.Galiyal (sub-divisional engineer)

18) S.A.Pawar (sub-divisional engineer)

19)V.K.Lomate (branch engineer)

20) V.G.atre (branch engineer)

21) S.A.Tilekar (branch engineer)

22)V.G.Ganhawade (branch engineer)

23)B.M.Dhere (branch engineer)

24)V.R.Shinde (branch engineer)

25) R.R.Takwale (branch engineer)

26)T.A.Deshpande (branch engineer)

27)R.D.Patil (branch engineer)

29)S.D.Kokate (branch engineer)

30)A.V.Ghodake (branch engineer)

31) R.V. Pimlodkar (branch engineer)

32)J.Y.Suryavanshi (branch engineer)

33)S.K.Dhamankar (branch engineer)

34)A.G.Tantak (branch engineer)

Temghar dam leakages, who is really responsible for poor construction quality and bad workmanship. ?

State Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan on Thursday ordered to initiate action against contractors Shrinivas Construction and Progressive Construction for faulty work of the Temghar dam in Pune district.But the big question is why only these two companies are being held responsible for the leakages . Actually, there was one more company who had been awarded for excellence in the execution of Temghar Masonry Dam. The company was soma enterprises limited and an award was given at the hands of then Minister for Irrigation Ajit Pawar .And interestingly nobody is mentioning its name in the entire episode. And that's why it doesn't seem that real culprits will be taken to justice

Temghar dam has been leaking ever since it was first built. The special investigation team was also formed to investigate leakages in dam and team members had passed hard strictures on the quality of execution, supervision and quality control aspects of Temghar dam. As well Ishwar Chaudhari the then Superintending Engineer, Pune Irrigation Projects Circle, had submitted a technical paper in The first dam safety conference held in Chennai in 2015 . As per this paper, the main cause of leakages in temghar Dam was poor construction quality and bad workmanship. He had also alleged that the ﬁrm , Srinivas Constructions to whom work had been allotted had executed it very badly. However, in his paper, Chaudhari had named only one firm Srinivas Constructions and there is no mention of progressive constructions or soma enterprises in his paper. Mega contractor-cum-builder Avinash Bhosale who has links with politicians was joint managing director of the soma enterprises.

In his technical paper Chaudhari has also alleged that

1)Upstream surface undulations and uneven slopes speak of bad workmanship and cement slurry accumulated on the upstream surface, percolated from the shuttering for cold grout masonry reveal that cement grout is not able to occupy the space between the stones due to improper packing between the stages of masonry. Large cavities show the improper laying of stones.

2) From correspondence made by the supervisory staff to the contractor, it reveals that proper mixing equipment was not used for preparing cement grout. Single drum mixer was used instead of double drum mixer which is not able to create the colloidal state of the mix. Also, use of improper grading of artificial sand used seems to be responsible for forming a homogenous masonry. The leakages on downstream are prominent below RL 669 where cold grout masonry is provided.

3)All these lacunae in the execution of cold grout masonry have defeated the purpose of providing it for imparting impermeability to the dam body.

4)There is a provision of stage wise grouting to be carried out before laying next season work. The stage grouting carried out may not have been done effectively to achieve the required impermeability. The field test results recorded at the time of construction shows the required impermeability results however the extent of leakages defies it totally. In situ masonry cores were not sent to MERI Nashik for permeability and strength test, which will reveal real status of strength and permeability parameters of the dam masonry.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) was also formed to investigate leakages in Dam . SIT members visited dam site twice and had passed hard strictures on the quality of execution, supervision and quality control aspects of Temghar dam construction and proposed enquiry by a special squad and also recommended that remedial measures shall be carried out at the risk and cost of the contractor and due payments shall not be released to him.

However, the irrigation department time and again insists that despite the leakage, there was no danger to the dam and no wastage of water. Construction work for the dam had begun in 1997. Till 2001,was finally completed in 2010. By 2006 itself, leaks had surfaced. While the irrigation department waited for the contractor to repair the leaks, nothing has been done so far.

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