KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has initiated an inquiry into irregularities in the Thar-Coal water project.

The Supreme Court had directed the accountability watchdog last year to investigate the corruption charges in the project.

The NAB Karachi, in a letter to the Sindh Irrigation Department secretary, has sought the record of the project. It includes the amount spent on the project as well as the names of the officers who approved payments.

It has demanded details of amount spent over the project in 2016-17 as well.

The irrigation department was yet to provide the record, NAB officials said.

The Supreme Court had remarked that the report of the AGP shows that the funds of Thar project were not invested in a transparent manner. It cited that the RO plants were not set up as per the requirement. Solar generation plants were also not installed for water filtration plants in the area.

The top court had remarked that people of Thar are deprived of basic facilities including clean drinking water, but the Sindh government has shown no interest into the matter.

The government has failed to take any action in line with the report of the auditor general.

The top court, while ordering the NAB to investigate the matter, had also directed it to submit its initial report within three months.