BANGALORE: Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) filed a petition in the High Court on Wednesday seeking a CBI probe into the misappropriation of funds in the construction of Varahi irrigation canal.The petitioner, Chandrashekar Shetty, in a PIL, stated that the project was started in the year 1979 for the purpose of construction of canals on either banks to irrigate an area of 32,072 acres in Kundapura taluk. Initially, the project cost was approved for 943 lakhs (9.43 crore). However, according to the petitioner, the third respondent KNNL, in collusion with some of the contractors, has intentionally revised the tender for their own benefit and the project cost now has escalated to Rs 569.53 crore. The department has attributed the cost escalation to due to the delay in clearance from various departments and faulty design and drawings. “The delay in the project is only a vague reason without any basis and the cost revised is only to help the contractors, who are making money in the said project,” submitted Mahesh Kiran Shetty, the counsel for the petitioner.The petitioner stated that Varahi project is not at all helpful for the farmers since the sugar cane cultivation is totally stopped and paddy is also slowly and steadily on the verge of stoppage due to the shortage of labourers and the project is useless and not help any of the farmers.
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