Odisha sarpanch suspended for siphoning off Rs 9 lakh meant for plantation functions

By Express News Service
KENDRAPARA: A sarpanch in Kendrapara district has been positioned below suspension on costs of siphoning off over Rs 9 lakh below Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) which he was purported to spend on planting bushes.

Pravat Chandra Mishra, sarpanch of Rajnagar, is accused of not making the cost in the direction of engagement of labour for the plantation. Besides, only a few bushes had been discovered on the websites. Two of Mishra’s associates had been suspended final 12 months over the identical case. 

According to Rajnagar BDO Mandardhar Mahalik, the sarpanch together with panchayat government officer Pravat Mallick and gramya rozgar sathi Pramod Sahoo allegedly bungled round Rs 9 lakh below MGNREGA in Rajnagar. 

The authorities granted Rs 9,19,984 in the direction of plantation of bushes throughout the block and work was began by participating native labourers on June 22 final 12 months.

Out of the fund, a sum of Rs 2,71,216 was allotted in the direction of wage cost to staff nevertheless it was made solely on papers. This aside, just a few bushes had been discovered planted by the three officers.

Following the District Collector’s course, Mahalik filed an FIR towards the sarpanch and two others with Rajnagar police station. Basing on the FIR, police registered a case below Sections 420 and 34. 

Project Director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Kendrapada Dilip Parida mentioned, bushes had been discovered to be largely non-existent throughout an inquiry after which the district administration advisable Panchayat Raj division to droop the sarpanch for his involvement within the plantation rip-off. 

Contacted, IIC of Rajnagar police station Tapan Nayak mentioned, police are investigating the case. The suspended sarpanch couldn’t be contacted regardless of repeated makes an attempt.

The plantation rip-off is claimed to be the tip of the iceberg within the district, alleged Umesh Chandra  Singh, president of the district unit of Krusak Sabha. 

Last 12 months, an RTI activist uncovered an NGO which had misappropriated round Rs 25 lakh of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP) fund in a transparent nexus with forest officers by not planting mangrove bushes within the forest.