Contractor's suicide puts limelight on Rs 35k crore need for state's Jal Jeevan Mission
As per the data, Maharashtra's annual plan for the year 2025-26 is of Rs 35,622 crore, of which Rs 19,259 crore is Centre's share and Rs 16,363 crore is the share of the state. Meanwhile, the Centre has already conveyed to the state government that it won't be releasing Jal Jeevan Mission funds for the time being.
Earlier this month, The Indian Express reported that the Maharashtra Government informed the Legislative Council that it has not received central funds for the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme since October 2024 and has been using funds from the state's coffers to complete the ongoing projects. It also stated that 51,558 schemes have been sanctioned under the mission, of which 26,009 are still ongoing.
However, in a written reply submitted to the Legislative Council, Maharashtra's Water Supply and Sanitation Department informed that the state government has disbursed funds worth Rs 2,483.58 crore to complete the ongoing schemes.
'We are corresponding with the central government to release funds at the earliest. To ensure that ongoing works are not stopped, for the year 2025-26, we have decided to give additional funds worth Rs 3,913 crore,' Meghana Sakore-Bordikar, Minister of State, had informed.
Earlier, a day after 35 year-old Harshal Patil committed suicide over non-payment of his dues worth Rs 1.4 crore, Maharashtra's Water Supply And Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil claimed that there are no records of pending dues of the said person.
Harshal's cousin Akshay Patil told police that the contractor was under immense financial stress. 'His bills worth Rs 1.4 crore were pending and he had also taken loan from money lenders. His financial stress was immense and he used to talk about the same for days,' said Patil.
According to his relatives, Harshal left home on Tuesday an did not return home, following which they filed a complaint at Kurlap police station in Sangli district. On Wednesday afternoon, his body was found hanging from a tree in a farm.
The Maharashtra State Contractor Association slammed the state government alleging that it has been consistently raising the pending dues worth Rs 89,000 crore for more than two years which were neglected by the state government. The association also released documents showing Patil had sublet the construction work.
'When I heard the news, I took information from the concerned officials. There was no record of pending dues . We do not know if he had sublet the work from any other contractor,' said State's Water Supply and Sanitation minister Gulabrao Patil.
Milind Bhosle, president, Maharashtra State Contractor Association, said that large number of small engineers had taken contracts of Jal Jeevan Mission work and the government has not paid their dues.
'There are dues worth Rs 89,000 crore pending and we have been consistently speaking about it. But nobody from the government gave any attention to it. This has now resulted in the suicide of a young contractor. He had also taken loan worth Rs 65 lakh and couldn't repay it since the government did not pay the dues,' said Bhosle.
Opposition NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil said that he had warned the state government in his speech at the legislative Assembly about such a possibility. 'I had warned the possibility of contractors committing suicides. But the government paid no attention to it,' he said. Harshal Patil was a resident of Walwa taluka in Sangli, the home district of Jayant Patil.
Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar said that after farmers, contractors are committing suicides in the state. 'The government is responsible for his death. The state has gone bankrupt and there is no one from the government who is looking after it,' he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
14 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Not just stalking accused, several VIP relatives on list of law officers appointed by Haryana govt
THE Haryana government may be having a rethink over the appointment of Vikas Barala, an accused in a sexual harassment case, as Assistant Advocate General, but a scrutiny of the list shows that like Barala, many of those appointed as law officers are relatives of VIPs, including politicians and bureaucrats. This, ironically, when the Supreme Court, as early as 2016, had cautioned against such appointments and advised guidelines to insulate the process from politics. On July 18, Vikas Barala, the son of BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala, was named as one of 97 law officers in the state. Talking to The Indian Express, Advocate General Pravindra Singh Chauhan said: 'As far as Vikas Barala is concerned, he has not joined yet…I was not aware of the background (of Vikas Barala). I don't think he (Vikas) will join.' AG Chauhan told The Indian Express that it was wrong to see all from one lens. 'I have seen their (the new appointees') working. All of them are competent lawyers. They have not made it to these posts due to their surnames, but only due to their competence. All the selections have been made on merit.' The AG's office in Haryana put out an advertisement in January for 100 posts of law officers (including 20 Additional AGs, 20 Senior Deputy AGs, 30 Deputy AGs and 30 Assistant AGs). A Selection Committee was then set up, with AG Chauhan as its head, and Special Secretary (Home) Maniram Sharma, 'Legal Remembrancer' Ritu Garg, and retired judges Darshan Singh and H S Bhalla as members. Of the 97 chosen, The Indian Express found, at least 23 have links to either politicians, bureaucrats or judges. These include at least seven close relatives of retired or serving high court judges, seven close relatives of IAS-IPS officers, seven close aides of BJP ministers or MLAs, and relatives of officials of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the State Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. Aakash Singla, who has been appointed as Additional AG and whose father is a former head of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, told The Indian Express, 'I have been practising since 2012 and it is my first stint in the Haryana AG's office. I was earlier on the panel of Punjab and Haryana High Court.' Also appointed as Additional AG, Ruchi Sekhri, the BJP state secretary, Chandigarh, said, 'I have been practising for the last 22 years. It is my first stint in the Haryana AG's office.' Vasundhara Dalal Anand, the daughter of a former DGP who is also among the new Additional AGs, said she had been practising for over two decades and had earned her law degree from Delhi University. Another newly appointed Additional AG, not willing to be named, said she had been practising for nearly 15 years, and had earlier been with the Punjab AG's office. While an Additional AG in Haryana is entitled to Rs 1.8 lakh per month, apart from Rs 25,000 as retainer fee, a Deputy AG gets Rs 1.28 lakh, and an Assistant AG such as Vikas Barala Rs 88,400 per month. All the appointments are on a provisional/contract basis, and for a period of a year to begin with. A law officer's duties include giving advice to the state government in legal matters; to appear and defend the state government or its officials or any statutory authority before a court or tribunal; to represent the state government in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court; and to discharge such other functions as are conferred on a law officer. The law officers are barred from appearing in any court of law 'against the interest of the state government'. Additionally, the AG can engage up to five advocates who 'possess such special qualifications and experience as deemed suitable for Law Officers'. The Haryana Law Officers' Engagement Act, 2016, says the candidates must be advocates, picked as per eligibility, merit and suitability, including the number of cases handled by them. While Barala's appointment has raised a row, such appointments took place under previous governments too. It was this that led to the Supreme Court curtailing the discretion of Punjab and Haryana governments in appointing law officers in March 2016, while advising guidelines for the same on the basis of merit and eligibility. Hearing a bunch of cases challenging law officers' appointments, a Bench of Chief Justice of India T S Thakur and Justice Kurian Joseph said: 'For a fair and objective system of appointment, there ought to be a fair and realistic assessment of the requirement. For otherwise, the appointments may be made not because they are required but because they come handy for political aggrandisement, appeasement or personal benevolence of those in power towards those appointed.' Rejecting the states' argument that appointments of law officers were contractual in nature and not public employment, the Court pointed out that the persons chosen lead some of the most important cases involving public interest. The Court also said that while its directions were confined to Punjab and Haryana, 'other states would (also) do well to reform their system of selection and appointment to make the same more transparent, fair and objective'. Subsequently, the BJP government in Haryana passed the Haryana Law Officers' Engagement Act in September 2016. Asked about Vikas Barala's appointment, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress said: 'I do not comment on individuals, but all I can say is that only competent people should be appointed (as law officers).' Another senior state politician said, 'It is commonly known that many of these appointments are political appointments. Of course, many of those who have political or bureaucratic linkages are also bright and competent and make it due to their competence, and not only due to their surnames.' Incidentally, on Thursday, hearing a case on the appointment of Punjab AG Maninderjit Singh Bedi, a Division Bench of the High Court held that 'you cannot succeed in the challenge to an office of Advocate General just by saying he is politically affiliated with some party… That cannot be a disqualification'. Meanwhile, in a Facebook post Thursday, Varnika Kundu, who had accused Vikas Barala of stalking and attempted abduction, said: 'Appointing someone to a public position of power is not just a political decision – it's a reflection of values and standards… Our policymakers run the country; the rest of us are just hoping they remember that they work FOR the INDIAN CITIZEN. What I will speak about is my own case – and the fact that despite months of national media attention, it has dragged on for this long with little progress… I continue to hold faith in the judiciary until the verdict is announced – but I won't deny that faith has wavered.'
Indian Express
14 minutes ago
- Indian Express
July 28, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Coup in Uganda
Rebel Ugandan soldiers overthrew the five-year-old government of Milton Obote and seized power in a bloodless coup. Radio Uganda said Brig Bazilio Olara Okello toppled President Obote who is believed to have fled to Kenya. The radio broadcast by Second Lieutenant Walter Lacuru gave no further details. 29 MLAs resign Five opposition parties in Haryana have decided to launch a movement against the Rajiv Gandhi-Longowal agreement on Punjab. Twenty nine members of the Haryana State Assembly have handed over their resignations to their leaders to be submitted to the Speaker on August 9, the Quit India Day, after a rally in Rohtak. Gujarat bandh On an incident-free day, the 'Gujarat bandh' call given by the striking government employees, demanding abolition of the caste-based roster system of promotion, evoked a good response in parts of Saurashtra and Baroda, while it had little effect in South Gujarat. A bomb explosion was reported at a place of worship in the Vassana suburb area of the city. No details were immediately available. Assam agitation Assam agitation leaders were not interested in continuing the talks to resolve the foreigners issue at the official level and even threatened fresh agitation if the Centre delayed in arriving at a solution. AASU leaders were reported to have said that there was no need for having another round of talks with the union home secretary, R D Pradhan, which was stated to be held in Shillong. Pradhan had assured the delegation that the Centre was keen in solving the issue and there was no 'uncertainty' over the resumption of the talks. 'We will intimate to him our desire of having talks at the political level', the leaders have said.
News18
37 minutes ago
- News18
Couple Find Surrogate Baby's DNA Not Linked To Them, Doctor Arrested In Major Surrogacy Racket
Last Updated: An illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket was busted in Hyderabad with the arrest of at least 10 people, including a doctor. A major illegal surrogacy and sperm trafficking racket has unravelled in the twin city of Hyderabad-Secunderabad. The Hyderabad police raided a fertility centre in Regimental Bazaar after a couple found out that the DNA of their child, born through surrogacy catered by the fertility centre, does not match with them. Police have arrested at least 10 persons in connection with the case, including a doctor. The accused, Dr Namrata, is the manager of Universal Srushti Fertility Centre in Regimental Bazaar. As per the police, the accused used to target vulnerable women, particularly those seeking abortions, and lured them into continuing pregnancies in exchange for money and other reasons. The newborns were handed over to the couple who had approached the clinic for surrogacy. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone-Hyderabad) S Rashmi Perumal said people were misled by the clinic into believing the babies were biologically theirs. Charged Rs 35 Lakh For Surrogacy The couple who approached the police stated that they had approached the fertility clinic in August 2024 for fertility and IVF consultation. Dr Namratha conducted their fertility-related tests and advised them to go for surrogacy. The DCP told PTI that the couple was directed to another branch of the clinic at Visakhapatnam for collection of specimens and were told that the surrogate would be arranged by the clinic and the embryo would be transplanted to the surrogate. Over the course of nine months, the couple made several payments to the clinic. In June this year, the complainant was informed that the surrogate had delivered a baby boy via C-section in Visakhapatnam. Overall, the clinic took over Rs 35 lakh from the couple as consultation charges for the procedures, police said. The baby boy and a 'false" birth certificate document were given to the couple. When the couple tried to get in touch with the clinic they were refused any documentation and were threatened, which prompted them to approach the police, the senior police official said. Illegal Rackets Operated Across Multiple Locations Based on the complaint, a detailed investigation was conducted on Saturday which revealed that Dr Namratha was allegedly conducting a large-scale illegal surrogacy and fertility 'scam". The main accused operated fertility centers in Vijayawada, Secunderabad, Visakhapatnam, and Kondapur, police said. Over the years, she expanded into unethical and illegal practices, collecting Rs 20-Rs 30 lakh from each client under false promises, police said. With the help of the medical department, the clinic at Gopalapuram in Hyderabad was sealed, police said. The Medical and Health Department had cancelled the registration of the involved fertility clinic previously, but the accused continued to operate from the building and put the name of another certified doctor on the official letterheads of the clinic. view comments First Published: July 28, 2025, 07:34 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
