Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi at a news conference in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Jan. 17: The state government today played down the Opposition’s allegations regarding the functioning of the judicial commission probing into the Forbesganj police firing but admitted to a delay in granting extension to the panel.

“There has been a procedural delay in granting extension to the commission because the matter could not be raised in the last cabinet meeting. But it is not a big issue. The extension of the commission’s term will be raised in the next cabinet meeting and it will be approved,” deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters after attending his weekly janta darbar.

Modi’s comment came a day after leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui expressed doubts about the way the Justice Madhavendra Saran Commission functioned and also sought a CBI probe into the Forbesganj firing in Araria district last year. Four persons, including a pregnant woman and a month-old infant, had died in the firing.

Though Siddiqui took a dig at government for not extending the panel’s term beyond December 22, 2011, the deputy chief minister refused to give much importance to the charge. Modi said: “It is not a big issue to react. The term of the commission that probed into the Bhagalpur riot was extended several times because the investigation was not over within the stipulated time. In case of the Forbesganj firing, the panel is doing its job.”

The deputy chief minister also came down heavily on former water resources minister and RJD MP Jagadanand Singh for accusing the government of failing to complete the Durgawati reservoir project in Kaimur. Modi said: “The project was delayed because the RJD and Congress had violated Central rules and Supreme Court directives on the Forest Conservative Act, 1980. We will complete the project by 2014.”