IANS

Patna, Aug 7: More trouble seems to be brewing for former union home minister Buta Singh. The Bihar government is to probe his role in the allotment of an embankment construction project on the Bagmati river to a firm in 2005 in violation of norms when he was the governor of the state, an official said.

The Rs.900 crore Bagmati River embankment construction work was given to Hindustan Steelworks Construction Limited (HSCL), which officials said had no prior experience. In 2005 Bihar was under President's rule and Buta Singh was the governor.

The embankment on the river breached Aug 1 in Sitamarhi, flooding large areas and hundreds of residents were rendered homeless.

"The HSCL had no prior experience of constructing embankments and despite that it was given the contract on nomination basis," Water Resources Secretary M.R. Naik told IANS.

Official sources said the work was awarded to the firm without even inviting tenders.

The state government will set up a high-level probe panel to examine the detailed project report of the HSCL and the actual work done, said Naik.

Buta Singh, who is chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, has been in the news after his son Sarabjot alias Sweety Singh was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.1 crore from Maharashtra-based contractor Ramraj Patil. A Mumbai court Thursday granted bail to Sweety and his three associates.