The minister said during his earlier tenure as water resources minister, late Jagjiwan Ram had laid the foundation stone of the Durgawati Water Reservoir Project in Kaimur.

"It's a shame that my successor could not complete the project," he remarked, taking a dig at his predecessor Jagdanand Singh. The minister promised to complete the project by next year. He also promised to augment irrigation facilities and reclaimed waterlogged areas.

Initiating the debate earlier, Indradev Prasad defended the track record of the Lalu-Rabri regime, stating that it had constituted a water commission which assessed the amount of water needed in the Ganga and Sone rivers in Bihar.

Prasad said the Gandak irrigation project, completed in 1972, was virtually dead due to the siltation of canals. The RJD government revived the project by desilting the canals and making roads along them, he added...

 He claimed that the water resources department was computerised during the RJD rule. "We developed a proper work culture in the department. Please maintain it," he urged the NDA government.

The debate primarily focused on Jagdanand Singh who had run the department for 15 years as its minister.

While NDA MLAs accused the former minister of making the engineers jobless, not utilising funds and keeping the department's activities largely confined to Kaimur, RJD legislators strongly defended his contribution to the department.