Mohali, March 9
This is the anatomy of a scandal. An interim inquiry report filed by a superintending engineer Parkash Singh of the department of rural development and panchayats has given a blow-by-blow account of how border development funds worth lakhs were siphoned off by certain block development and panchayat officer (BDPO).
The report filed by Parkash Singh to deputy commissioner, Taran Taran, Ajoy Sharma on March 4 limits itself to the funds “used” by the panchayat samiti for development of Gandiwind block concluding that out of the Rs 1.20 crore grants allocated, over Rs 80 lakh were misappropriated.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The border areas of Punjab get huge grants from the Centre and the state for development. It is now clear that majority of these funds is pocketed and very little work is done on the ground. Gandiwind block alone got Rs 40 crore under various schemes much of which was misutilised by the concerned BDPOs, panchayat secretaries and gram sewaks.
These development works undertaken by the BDPO Rasal Singh had to be carried out in accordance with the Panchayati Raj Public Works Account Rules, 1964. But no rules were followed, no tenders called, no formal approvals taken and in many cases not even records maintained.
As many as 19 bank accounts were opened to deposit the funds received from various agencies. Instead of using the performa-based cashbooks,
these were bought from the market and changed repeatedly. The report adds that accounts maintained and the ones available from the banks do not match. The interest given by the banks is also missing from the accounts.
Out of the grants received from the Border Area Development Programme (BADP), Rs 77 lakh was shown to have been spent on installing 83 deep bore taps. The inquiry officer’s investigation of the spot showed that only 77 taps were installed. On digging a few it was discovered that none of these were deep bore and the material used was of the worst quality available.
“The expenditure shown in the installation of these taps is over Rs 46 lakh, but actually not more than Rs 20 lakh has been spend. For the missing amount fake bills, muster rolls and receipts were prepared,” states the report. The material required for the installation was also bought from a single supplier without calling for tenders. No records are available to account for expenditure worth lakhs on the installation of simple taps.
In the installation of three submersible pumps tubewells in BSF check posts the inquiry officer found that the quotation notice carried fake numbers and the work order was fake too. A spot visit revealed that only two pumps were installed, one deep bore and the other joined to a PVC pipe. The third tubewell was missing.
The block received another Rs 42 lakh from BADP for the installation of solar lights. “But a visit shows that installation of solar lights was a big drama,” states the report. In one case it has shown that Rs 6 lakh was spent in five days for the installation of lights. “It is impossible to install solar lights in eight villages in just five days” states the report.
And the scam is not all that there is to this story of shame. Navdeep Singh Gill an SDO working with the department first reported the scam to the Taran Taran deputy commissioner. His report pointed to a scam worth Rs 72 lakh was also submitted. But instead of taking action against those involved in the siphoning of funds Gill was booked by the Vigilance Bureau.
The BDPO Rasal Singh is currently under suspension, but the gram sewak Tejinder Kumar, who was allegedly equally involved, was re-instated within 20 days of his suspension by the director Department of Rural Development and Panchayats.
