When the district administration of Nuapada is yet to take action against those who ho have embezzled crores of rupees under the 14th Central Finance Commission and the 4th State Finance Commission funds in three gram panchayats of Nuapada block, there is yet another case of fund misappropriation cropping up.

People of Kotenchuan GP of Nuapada block have complained that lakhs of rupees have been misappropriated by the Junior Engineer (JE) in connivance with the Assistant Engineer (AE) and the BDO of Nuapada block. In a written complaint to the Project Director of DRDA, the people headed by Rabi Mangaraj, Kalahandi lok Sabha constituency secretary of Congress, have stated that about Rs12 lakh sanctioned for construction of roads and water resource development projects under GGY and Biju KBK have been misappropriated without even initiating the works.

The works are stated to be (1) improvement of road from Colony Pada to Salepada near Sialati village at a cost of Rs3 lakh, (2) improvement of road from Bhunjia Pada to Anlajuba at Kotenchuan village with Rs3 lakh, (3) improvement of road from Jamdarha to Tengna basa with Rs3 lakh and (4) renovation of Chhelnedi Chuan Bandh at Chhelnedi village at a cost of Rs3 lakh.

Verification of records in the block office reveals that the work orders for execution of these works have been issued to the JE before the elections. Running bills of about Rs2 lakh for each work have already been released.

But a visit to the worksites by this reporter reveals that the cost of materials like stone metal and muram dumped in small quantity in two sites would be less than Rs50,000. “These are the initial findings of our social audit; much more are going to be unearthed,” said Mangaraj.

“Corruption in Nuapada district is on the rise as the district administration is not initiating action against the corrupt officials,” rued Mangaraj.

“The State administration has also gone into a silent mode,” added another Congress leader, further stating that the Panchayati Raj department, although informed about the embezzlement of Rs1.42 crore in Parkod, Beltukri and Bhalesar GPs of Nuapada block, has not taken any action against the corrupt officials.

It is widely felt that such allegations by political leaders cannot be turned down as irrelevant because there are many examples of inaction and observance of tolerance by the district and State administration against corruption issues in the past.

People of Bhainsadani GP of Boden block had drawn the attention of the district and State administration in the year 2013-14 to the embezzlement of more than Rs 12 lakh under the NREGS in their area. likewise, people of Talakot villagers under Nangalbod GP had complained about corruption in construction of roads and water projects last year. No inquiry was made to ascertain the truth.

On the contrary, the people who unearthed the corruption matters were targeted by the corrupt officials and the contractors.

“Why should we take the risk when the high officials are protecting the corrupt,” rues laxman Majhi of Talakot.

“It was one of the main reasons of defeat of the BJD candidates in our area,” he added.

“We are conducting an inquiry into the alleged corruption in Kotenchuan panchayat and appropriate action would be taken,” said Project Director of DRDA Pradip Naik.