Nayagarh: In a significant order, three government officials accused of misappropriating government funds by preparing false bills under state-sponsored ‘Mo Pokahari Yojana’ found themselves in the soup after the court of the District Magistrate and Collector directed them to pay back the money, a report said Saturday.
The accused officials were identified as assistant executive engineer Sarat Kumar Mallick, GPTA Susant Kumar Nanda of Odagaon block and Pranab Prakash Mishra, a gram rojgar sewak of Haripur panchayat.
The court in its order July 31 directed realization of Rs 66,550 from these officials within three months.
Sources said Dinabandhu and Kailash Pradhan of Karada Raghunathpur Sasan under Haripur panchayat of Odagaon block received a work order (April 15, 2017) for a pond under ‘Mo Pokhari Yojana’.
The pond was to be dug up on 0.51 decimal of land on khata no-55/15 and plot no-388 in Pathargad mouza. The officials paid them Rs 1, 99,500 in four installments for the work.
However, the work was never implemented for which some persons filed an application under the RTI Act at Odagaon tehsil office praying for a reply on the status of the pond work.
The public information officer (PIO) in his reply denied of any pond work on the mentioned plot stating that only a ground and some trees existed on the land.
Later, some residents demanding a thorough probe into the matter lodged a complaint with the Collector in 2018. A local daily also published a report in this regard.
The accused officials during the probe tried to show a pond dug up under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
The naib sarpanch, Anam Charan Nayak, and four others expressing displeasure over delay in the probe filed a petition in the Orissa High Court.
The high court directed the Collector to finish the probe at the earliest. Accordingly, the Collector directed Odagaon tehsildar to probe and submit a report to him. The tehsildar denied existence of any pond on the mentioned land.
PNN