FIR filed against 5 for funds’ misuse

The Statesman, Aug 6, 2007

Statesman News Service
BHAWANIPATNA, Aug. 5: An FIR has been filed at the Bhawanipatna Sadar police station against five people by the Bhawanipatna block development officer on Friday for alleged misappropriation of National Rural Employment Generation Scheme funds.
The accused are the Chancher gram panchayat secretary, former VAW and panchayat extension officer, village labour leader, former sarpanch of the gram panchayat and former junior engineer of Bhawanipatna Block.
The funds were meant for the improvement of the RD Road up to Sikerguda village. It is alleged that false payment has been shown against 23 people.
Forgery has been committed in several cases with false thumb impressions, even of persons who do not live in the village.
Many dead persons have been shown to have been paid on the muster roll and misappropriated. The scam was detected during the visit of the Kalahandi collector, Mr Pramod Chandra Pattnaik, to Sikerguda village of the Chancher gram panchayat at Bhawanipatna Block. He detected serious instances of misappropriation, while reviewing case records of road construction at an estimated cost of Rs 4 lakh from the NREGS grant.
Based on Mr Pattnaik’s inspection report, the BDO filed the FIR.
The collector also detected the sale of essential commodities at a higher price, according to a Press release.
The collector detected that a gram sevak were selling DPAP rice and kerosene at a higher rate. The extra amount of Rs 1,387.50 taken by the gram sevak, Pramod Kumar Mishra, was realised and returned to 47 victims. Mr Pattnaik directed officials concerned to take disciplinary action against the erring gram sevak.
Similar allegations are pouring forth from remote areas.
Since 1 July, the district administration has formed squads to put a check on black marketing of the public distribution system.
Mr Pattnaik has urged officials to gear up the monitoring system for proper implementation of NREGS funds.