INDIA SUMMARIZED

New Delhi: In a revelation that could greatly embarrass his party, BJP President Nitiin Gadkari has written a letter to the Union Water Ministry, asking for funds to be released to contractors in a mega dam project in Maharashtra. The Gosikhurd irrigation dam project in Vidarbha has been the centrepiece of the BJP's attack against the state government, which the party says is guilty of a massive irrigation scam. It was started in 1983 at a cost of 461 crores , but more than 2 decades later, the project is still incomplete, marred by controversy, and the costs have escalated to an estimated 18,000 crore rupees. Several committees have found fault with the quality of works on the dam, including the Vadnere Committee report which pointed to lapses by the contractors which have been ignored by the officials and the Central Water Commission which said wherever the quality is not up to the mark, work needs to be redone. But in his letter to Union Water Resources Minister, Pawan Kuma...