Mumbai: The inquiry ordered against 45 officials of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) is not time-bound and the state government is yet to finalise whether the probe will be headed by Chief Secretary or Additional Chief Secretary-level bureaucrat.
"The inquiry is not time-bound, because there are so many officials to be probed.
This is the first time that such a huge inquiry has been ordered in the state.
Since one of the 45 officials, D P Shirke, is a secretary of the Water Resources Department, the probe will be headed by Chief Secretary or an Additional Chief Secretary-level bureaucrat," government sources said.
A departmental probe against the 45 VIDC officials, who were indicted in the N D Vadnere Committee report in 2010, was ordered by Chavan on Saturday.
The engineers, including VIDC former chief executive director D P Shirke, will now face a probe on several counts including for having turned a blind eye to government norms, while clearing cost escalations; not supervising works on site and not following tender conditions.
The one-man Vadnere committee was set up in March 2010 following complaints and media reports over cost escalations, and official-contractor-politician nexus in approving projects in Vidarbha.
PTI
