Taking stern action against the nine accused of MGNREGA scam in Ambala, Haryana forest department has suspended four range forest officers with immediate effect.
The Department has also made recommendation to the Central Government to suspend three officers of Haryana Forest Services and directions have been issued to take action against two retired officials according to the rules, said a spokesman of the Forest Department on Monday.
He said that the three officers of Haryana Forest Services included Jagmohan Sharma, Prashant Sharma and Rajesh Rana. Similarly, the four Range Forest Officers included Gokul Sharma, Deepak Ellenabadi, Vinod Kumar and Surender Naagar.
The two retired officials included Range Forest Officer, lakshman Das and Superintendent, Chandra Mohan.
The Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar had in January ordered the registration of an FIR against nine officers and officials of the Forest Department in the alleged Rs4.99-crore scam under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Ambala district.
The matter had been lingering for many years. Apart from registering the FIR, departmental action was also initiated against the officers and officials under Section 7.
As per the records, it had come to light that officials responsible for the implementation of the MGNREGA had allegedly embezzled Rs30 crore from the centrally sponsored scheme for youths residing in rural areas.