Karasa pradhan suspended for irregularities in dev works
The pradhan of the Karasa gram panchayat, which falls under Rohru in Shimla district, has been suspended for alleged irregularities in the development works being carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the 15th Finance Commission.
Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap has suspended the pradhan with immediate effect under Section 145 (1) (c) of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, for negligence in duty. He has also asked panchayati secretary to hand over all records, stores, stock etc related to the panchayat.
A local resident had made a written complaint against the pradhan to the Block Development Officer, Rohru. A preliminary investigation was conducted following the complaint, in which irregularities were found in the developmental works carried out from 2020 to 2024. On July 1, 2024, a show-cause notice was issued to the pradhan.
On July 4, 2024, the pradhan filed his reply. Thereafter, the reply filed by the pradhan was cross checked with the records of the panchayat. Irregularities like fake bills, irregularities in the purchase of goods, transferring the budget of the works, incomplete works, not transferring wages directly to the accounts of labourers, allocating work to a single person without quotation, getting excessive work done without budget, working without technical permission etc came to light in the investigation.
