Kendrapara: The Orissa Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the state government for the alleged failure of check dam irrigation projects resulting in the wastage of Rs 166 crore.

Responding to a petition, the rights panel asked the state water resources secretary and engineer-in-chief of works department to conduct a probe and furnish compliance report.

The petition moved by rights activist Sangita Swain cited the annual audit reports of the comptroller & auditor general (CAG) that sought OHRC's intervention and iterated that the check dam projects were not yielding the desired results due to faulty construction.

"The Rs 166-crore check dams have remained unproductive. Of the 2,825 completed check dams, 1,409 were not provided with shutters. As a result, water flowed unplugged through open vents. Because of faulty construction the very purpose of check dams were defeated as water could not be stored," the petition stated quoting the CAG report.

While the check dams proved to be faulty and the people were deprived of its desired benefits, no action was taken against the engineers concerned for failing to provide shutters.

The guidelines for construction of check dams are specified at the pani panchayats or the village-level irrigation water users' association. However, pani panchayats for most of these check dams were formed after completion of construction.

Although the water resources department had set a target of 15,000 check dams during 2010-15, the chief engineer minor irrigation project accorded approval to 8,090 check dams at an estimated cost of Rs 11,318 crore. Of this, Rs 971.53 crore was approved in the budget and till March 2015 only 5,926 check dams were completed for Rs 884.88 crore, the petition maintained.