MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 27: The AJK planning and development department has identified a number of flaws and irregularities in a Rs85.852 million irrigation project initiated in March 2002 with funding from the federal government, Dawn has learnt.

The project comprised three schemes — land management in Kharri area of Mirpur district, including installation of 23 tube-wells (Rs35.706 million); installation of tube-wells in Iftikharabad area of Bhimber district (Rs12.008 million); and water resource development in Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Poonch and Sudhnoti (Rs38.138 million).

The project was due to be completed by March 2005 but an extension of three months was approved on the request of the then agriculture secretary to ‘achieve the remaining targets’, according to sources.

However, they said, monitoring and evaluation of the project had revealed that the infrastructure and civil work could hardly be carried out in the project area whereas most of the operational expenditure had been exhausted by the AJK agriculture department.

Officials of the planning and development department had recommended that the expenditure incurred on the work done out of the scope of the PC-I should be recovered from the culpable people, the sources said.

The sources said watercourse construction and improvement work had been carried out in an 11.5km area as against the planned 60km area. The progress regarding land development and levelling was only five per cent of the prospective work, they said.

They said most of the land levelling was carried out outside the project area identified in the PC-I.

The progress regarding installation of water-lifting devices was 36 per cent as five of those were installed against the plan to install 14, they said. They said the target for sinking of tube-wells was met but most of those had been installed outside the project area.

The officials were of the view that most of the area could have been irrigated through water channels and installation of tube-wells there was unjustified, the sources said.

The sources said four per cent of the allocated expenditure was incurred on precision land levelling, 11 per cent on watercourse construction and improvement, 14 per cent on installation of water-lifting devices and 83 per cent on installation of tube-wells.

But 102 per cent expenditure had been made on the purchase of equipment and furniture, 90 per cent on travelling and daily allowances, 99.375 per cent on vehicle operation and 64.28 per cent on running offices, the sources added.