DEPARTMENTAL VIGILANCE ACTIONS ARE PART OF INTERNAL CHECKS TO CURB CORRUPTION AND ENSURE QUALITY: WATER RESOURCES MINISTER
924 FLOOD PROTECTION WORKS EXECUTED SUCCESSFULLY TO SAFEGUARD PEOPLE AND INFRASTRUCTURE: BARINDER KUMAR GOYAL
LOP QUOTED ONLY 3.8 PER CENT WORKS TO CREATE CONFUSION: WATER RESOURCES MINISTER
Chandigarh, October 1:
Punjab Water Resources Minister Sh. Barinder Kumar Goyal, on Wednesday, strongly assailed Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa for twisting facts of the Department and surprisingly siding with corrupt officials during the recent special session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
The Cabinet Minister said that the stand taken by the Opposition leader was nothing less than an attempt to mislead the House and demoralise honest functioning within the department.
Sh. Goyal clarified that the letter dated August 22, 2025, referred to by the LoP, was written by the Chief Engineer (Vigilance) of the department to Chief Engineer (Drainage) to re-assess certain flood protection works. He pointed out that this communication was an internal exercise of checks and balances to ensure judicious use of funds and quality control, especially since early monsoon showers had set in. The LoP deliberately presented it in a distorted manner, said the Cabinet Minister.
The Water Resources Minister further explained that the letter cited by the Opposition pertained only to 35 works which were ongoing at the onset of monsoon, whereas the department had already executed 924 works before the flood season. The LoP, while quoting selectively, chose not to mention that these 35 works account for a mere 3.8 per cent of the total projects executed. “This clearly shows his intent to create confusion by withholding the complete facts,” Sh. Goyal added.
Countering another allegation, the Cabinet Minister said the LoP incorrectly claimed that 8,000 employees of the department had been chargesheeted. The actual figure is less than 750 out of a workforce of over 16,000. These chargesheets, Sh. Goyal stressed, were issued in cases of corruption, misconduct and lackadaisical approach, some of these cases were recommended by the Vigilance Bureau in the notorious Gurinder Singh contractor case.
Highlighting instances of wrongdoing, Sh. Barinder Kumar Goyal revealed that an officer from Amritsar was demoted after being caught favouring a particular contractor and even using his own laptop to fill tenders. Another officer illegally approved tenders after his transfer. A Gurdaspur officer posted in mining was dismissed after being caught red-handed accepting Rs.2.5 lakh as bribe. Some officers were found pressurising contractors for bribes, while others deliberately failed to collect royalty as per rules causing losses to the state exchequer.
Sh. Goyal said that instead of applauding the government’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption, the LoP chose to shield wrongdoers and question accountability measures. “The people of Punjab deserve to know why the Leader of Opposition is so perturbed when the Department acts tough against corrupt practices. It is rare that an Opposition leader openly sides with those who have been punished for serious corruption charges,” Sh. Barinder Kumar Goyal categorically remarked.
