Of late, it has come to light that there is a scam of more than Rs 100 crore in the various divisions of Works Department in the guise of repair of Government quarters in the State capital.
But surprisingly though the State Government is repeatedly stressing on the implementation of 5Ts, it seems the authorities are selective in doing so. No action has been taken by the authorities against the coterie of officials responsible for bending every rule in the book to fatten their pockets. No efforts have been made to make the officials accountable for the Rs 100-crore loss to the State exchequer.
It is alleged that false bills were submitted and contracts were awarded without work orders. In the process the official-contractor nexus siphoned off more than 100 crores in Division-I, Division-III, Division-IV and Division-V. In many places, no work has been done but false bills have been generated.
But what has raised many eyebrows IS that the guilty officials instead of being punished are still continuing in the same posts. To make matters worse, some of them are still posted in the city even after 10 years. On October 30, 2019 though 94 engineers were transferred, these Assistant Executive Engineers (AEEs) were not touched and they continue in their posts.
Some examples are Division IV Executive Engineer SK Nasirula, Division-1, Sub-Division-I SDO SK Panda, who is also in-charge of Sub- Division-III, Division-III, Sub-Division-I AEE RR Mohanty, Division-III, Sub- Division-II AEE PC Dalei, Division -IV Sub- Division-II AEE Dilip Sahu, Division-IV Sub-Division -III AEE Akshay Sahu and Division-V Sub-Division-II AEE Ashok Panda.
Besides, there are three to four Juniors Engineers in each of the divisions are posted in Bhubaneswar for over 10 years. Further, there is no coordination between the Works Secretary and the officials. As the Secretary is an IAS Officer and has no technical knowledge it has become easy for these officials to hoodwink him and continue with their unscrupulous activities.
So, it is no surprise that all the developmental works carried by the Works Department have come to a standstill. Some of the aforesaid officials have taken a plea that as they are nearing superannuation they should continue in the same posts.
Knowledgeable sources said that though these coterie of officers should be allowed to continue in the department, they should posted at the head office instead of the field and a person with engineering background should head the department to ensure that normal functioning of the department is restored, transparency is maintained and all works of the department are expedited.