The State Government on Saturday suspended two Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers and a Junior Engineer (JE) from their services for their alleged involvement in corruption.
The suspended officials are BDO Lariman Kharsel of Chitrakonda block in Malkangiri district, BDO Debendra Bahadur Singh Dharua of Jharigaon block in Nabarangpur and JE Sunil Samal of Jharigaon block in Nabarangpur.
“Lariman Kharsel has been placed under suspension for involvement in gross irregularities in execution of Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) programme. Besides, Debendra Bahadur and Sunil Samal have been suspended for their alleged involvement in misappropriation of the entitled money of the same programme,” said an official order issued by the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department.
The IHHL scheme is executed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) programme.
In Nabarangpur district, several beneficiaries had lodged complaints at the Jharigaon police station alleging that the BDO Dharua took around Rs 5 crore for sanctioning funds under the scheme. The block was sanctioned funds for 26,355 bogs, sources said.
Following the complaints, Nabarangpur DRDA officials, at the instruction of district Collector Dr Ajit Kumar Mishra, visited the villages to inquire into the allegations.
Recently, beneficiaries led by Congress leader and former Nabarangpur MP Pradip Majhi had also lodged complaints at the Jharigaon police station.
All the officers have been asked not to leave their headquarters without prior permission from the concerned authorities