Sambalpur: Lakhs of rupees allocated for the plantation work at Kolagan under Dhama range of Sambalpur have allegedly been misappropriated. Even as the forest department is trying to suppress the issue, labourers/job card holders engaged in the work have demanded an investigation by the Vigilance department into the scam, a report said.
Many labourers Friday met Vigilance DSP Deonarayan Das here and made a written complaint in this regard seeking an investigation.
They said that 60 labourers were engaged in the sapling plantation under MGNREGS. Though they have worked under the MGNREGS, they are yet to get their payments till date.
“Some forest officials and a contractor have used the job cards of other labourers and misappropriated their wages. Though we have been repeatedly requesting the forest officials in this regard, not step is being taken in this regard. We are disappointed,” they lamented.
They added that some of them worked for four weeks and others for a week, but when wages were demanded, forest officials assured to credit the wages into the bank accounts at a later date.
After completion of the work, wages were paid to labourers who were not engaged in the work. Only Rs 300 was paid to each of them, it was alleged.
The labourers pressed for stern action against the officials and the contractor involved in the irregularities.
Notably, projects under the rural job scheme have allegedly been marred by irregularities in many cases in the district.
PNN