LUCKNOW, Aug. 18 -- The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has detected lapses in the launch of the Saryu Nahar Pariyojana (SNP) that led to an increase in the estimated project cost from Rs. 299.20 crore in 1982 to the actual cost of Rs.10,003.11 crore in 2021, when the canal was commissioned.

The state government should fix responsibility for lapses and delays in the project execution, the CAG audit report said, adding that awarding of contracts and quality of construction works should be probed. Even after the launch, the project failed to provide desired benefits to the farmers as many of the canals and their distribution system remained incomplete, the report said.

Uttar Pradesh parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Kumar Khanna...