Rajasthan government signed a Rs 34,102 crore Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Haryana government to quench the thirst with Yamuna water flowing from Haryana to neighbouring districts of Rajasthan including Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu.
However, Rajasthan government had earlier signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Haryana government earlier also on February 17, 2024 when Abhay Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary Water Resources Department of Rajasthan signed it with Pankaj Agarwal, who was then Commissioner and Secretary Irrigation and Water Resources in Haryana in presence of Debashree Mukherjee, who was then serving as Secretary, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Pankaj Agarwal, a 2000 batch IAS officer is now in jail arrested by CBI a few days ago in the IDFC First bank fraud, which has engulfed three IAS officers while five more are under the radar.
Agarwal was arrested for alleged misappropriation of public funds resulting into loss of Rs 60.54 crore to the exchequer.
”it's good that Rajasthan government has replaced that MoU with new MoA. Good things should start with good notes,” said a senior officer, who was part of team drafting the agreement.
How the scam took place?
The alleged scam took place when Agarwal was serving as the principal secretary of the department of school education and the department of agriculture. The Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad and the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board opened accounts at the bank's Sector 32 branch in Chandigarh in violation of the state finance department's guidelines.
Auditing the bank account, the CBI, found that the departments transferred funds well in excess of permitted limits into these accounts.
Through a series of fraudulent transactions executed within these accounts, public funds were then systematically misappropriated, resulting in a net loss of ₹60.54 crore to the state government.
The fraud detected within the education and agriculture departments was part of a far larger, systemic racket running out of the same IDFC First Bank branch, CBI probe discovered. In total, ₹504 crore belonging to eight Haryana government departments was siphoned off and routed into various shell entities according to CBI.
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