N’PADA NREGS SCAM: PROBE DELAYED ON FLIMSY GROUND

N’PADA NREGS SCAM: PROBE DELAYED ON FLIMSY GROUND  

5/14/13   The Pioneer   

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An inquiry on allegation of corruption in MGNREGS was not conducted in Nuapada district despite several allegations were lodged. The officials cited the lurking threat of the Maoists as the reason for not being able to move the inaccessible areas in the district. 

However, the locals are not prepared to buy the story as they alleged that the officials were deliberately trying to delay the probe since they often visit various parts of the district for work supervision and conducting Palli Sabhas. Assistant Programme Organiser (APO) of Boden block Jitendra Sahu in his letter points out, “I was deputed to enquire into the allegation regarding corruption in the MGNREGS work in Patdarha village of Bhainsadani Gram Panchayat, but I failed as the area remains inaccessible because of no road and the Maoist danger.” 

Sahu is one of the members of the inquiry team formed by the BDO, Boden Panchayat Samiti, to enquire about the allegation of fund embezzlement worth Rs 13.30 lakh in the construction of six roads under the MGNREGS. The online information of MGNREGS shows that a total of eight works were done between 2007-08 and 2011-12 in Patdarha village which is located on the Patdarha plateau. However, only two out of the eight works have been done. 

“I had raised the question of this misappropriation in the Gram Panchayat meeting and demanded Xerox copies of the cash records. Astonishingly, on the following day, all the documents of the Panchayat office were found burnt,” says Bhainsadani panchayat Samiti member Hiralal Majhi. 

An allegation of misappropriation was also made by this correspondent in writing to the District Collectoron September 18 and October 10 last year and later to the Principal Secretary of the Panchayati Raj Department. Khariar MLA Hitesh Kumar Bagartti afterward had written a letter to the Chief Minister on October 17 last on this matter, where he stated that the roads have never been constructed where as expenditures in respect of the roads have been shown and wage payments have been made to school teachers and persons who are already dead.

“Send a State level squad, get the status,” the Private Secretary to the Chief Minister noted in the petition of Bagartti. Subsequent noting in the petition by the Director Special Project states, “We must carry out an enquiry – kindly arrange.” But there was no immediate step. The instructions in this way rolled – from the Special Secretary to the Additional Secretary and then to the District Collector for initiating inquiry. The District Collector instructed the Project Director (PD) of the DRDA to take step. The PD sent a letter to the BDO. The BDO formed a team under the leadership of the assistant engineer of the Panchayat Samiti and instructed the team by writing to conduct the inquiry. In this way, it took two months for the team to be constituted but still the enquiry was not done. Ironically, the MGNREG Act makes it mandatory for the BDO to conduct an enquiry and address the grievance within a stipulated period 15 days. 

The Project Director wrote four letters to the BDO indicating that the BDO would be held accountable for not doing his duty and might be penalized for inaction. The BDO in turn intimated the matter to the team immediately. But, still the team did not turn up making a mockery of the flagship programme of such an important nature. However, the team was forced to give in writing after four months the reason for not enquiring the matter only after the information on action taken report on the allegation was sought from the DRDA by Khirasindhu Sagaria, a social activist. Finally, the APO on behalf of the team wrote he was not able to do the enquiry because of the Maoists’ activities.

The assistant engineer who is the leader of the team, in his explanation for not carrying on enquiry states, “We are doing more exercise to find out the missing documents online made by the GRS and Computer Programmer but do not find the documents.”

When contacted, the BDO said, “We will conduct the inquiry within a week and bring out the truth.” Locals are demanding action against the corrupt officials, who have embezzled the money. They are also demanding penalty against the officials who have caused negligence in addressing the grievance in time.