Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance arrested a Class A contractor and his power of attorney (POA) holder for misappropriation of government funds meant for construction of hostels in Subarnapur district, a press release issued by the agency informed Monday.
The main accused was identified as Bijay Kumar Agrawal – an A-class contractor. Agrawal’s associate was identified as Deepak Kumar Agrawal. They were nabbed from Rourkela and were being examined at Vigilance Cell Division Office in Cuttack. The press notification read that the two accused persons would be produced before the Court of Special Vigilance Judge, Bolangir.
Based on intelligence input regarding misappropriation of funds in construction of four numbers of 100-bed hostels in Subarnapur district, the technical wing of Odisha Vigilance conducted an inspection of all four buildings built for scheduled caste students.
During preliminary surface technical evaluation, the sleuths detected multiple deviations such as large-scale cracks, seepages, low width of roof plaster, use of poor quality wood materials against prescribed sal wood, use of non-standard low quality electrical and sanitary fittings instead of prescribed branded products, and so on.
The officials assessed the misappropriated amount to be around Rs 34.14lakh which is a loss to the government exchequer, the Vigilance alleged.
Afterwards, the officials registered a case against Agrawal and his aide for misappropriation of government funds.
Following further investigation, the duo was apprehended.
It can be mentioned here that the investigation is underway as Vigilance is probing the involvement of government officials in the alleged misappropriation.
Notably, power of attorney (POA) is an important legal document that allows a person to appoint another person or organisation to manage his/ her property, medical affairs, and finances on his behalf in his absence.
PNN