Boriguma: The government lays a lot of stress on effective implementation of Swachh Bharat. However, irregularities in tribal-dominated Boriguma block of Koraput have defeated its purpose, a report said.
The report said, Boriguma is the largest block in the district. It is alleged that irregularities were committed in the toilet construction executed by RWSS.
A junior engineer has allegedly misappropriated the funds of the beneficiaries of Swachh Bharat without any traces of toilets in most cases. What is most surprising is that toilets have been allotted in the name of people who have died long ago and their funds have been embezzled.
This mess has come when the administration is taking a lot of measures to make the area free of open defecation. Toilet construction was part of the drive while residents were made aware of the hazards of open defecation.
For years and months, people in this block have built toilets with their own funds, but their money has not been cleared.
A case in point is Kanagan panchayat. The scam came to light when some people including Ritesh Bisoi of this panchayat approached junior engineer Kalyani to trace about their toilet bills.
Ritesh was shocked when the junior engineer told him that a bill in the name of his father Abhimanyu Bisoi has been cleared and no toilets will be given to him. In fact, his father has not received any fund for their toilet he had built.
Scores of people in the same village have no toilets. Locals alleged that lakhs of rupees have been misappropriated while they have no toilets.
People like Padmanabh Bisoi, Ramnath Bisoi, Rajendra Bisoim Ganesh Bisoi, Shankar Bisoi, Padmavati Bisoi, Hemanta Bisoi, Bandita Bisoi, Pradipta Bisoi alleged that their funds have been looted.
Even official records revealed that toilets were given to dead people like Loknath Bisoi and Phulamati Bisoi. The two had died many years ago. Locals wondered how the bills of the two deceased people were cleared and who have embezzled the funds.
They lamented that they were worn out from frequenting to the block office to get toilets. In another case, then junior engineer had issued an order to a woman named Sabita Bisoi to construct 16 toilets at Guda village in 2018-19.
The woman had built 16 toilets for some beneficiaries, but the bills have not been cleared till date. The villagers lamented the fact that officially bills of toilets have been cleared, but there is no trace of toilets in the village.
Suspecting a scam, they demanded a high level investigation into the scam.
Social activists said given this scenario, the objective of Swachh Bharat has been defeated in this backward tribal-dominated pocket. This scenario is also the same in other areas too.
PNN