Around 22 km from the district headquarters, residents of Dilmili village, Darbha, have accused their Sarpanch of embezzlement in funds allocated for the various Government schemes like Indira Awaas Yojna, pension for homeless and other development works.
Villagers, including women in large numbers, have submitted a memorandum against Sarpanch Budhram Sodhi on to District Collector Ankit Anand. They also requested him to visit the village and inspect the matter. Hundreds of villagers reached the Collector’s office on Tuesday and complained that pension for homeless, elderly and widows has not reached the needy from the past six months. They also accused Sodhi of taking bribes and holding back the developmental works in the village.
“I had been informed that the pension amount had been credited to my account but when I checked with the bank, I was told that no pension amount had been transferred,” said Bharat Mandavi, a villager. Sarpanch and his aides have been gobbling up the welfare funds in our village, he said. Meanwhile, the Panchayat employees have not received their salaries from a couple of months. Development works in the village have been pending since a long time, the villagers alleged.
Anand assured them that he will visit the village very soon and begin the investigation, said villagers. “After Sodhi promised the villagers to allocate them a house under the Indira Awaas Yojna, he collected anywhere from Rs 2,000- 7,000 for the people. Neither has he allotted them houses nor has he returned them their money,” said Suphal, a villager. The villagers accused Sodhi of accepting bribes even in the form of animals.
The villagers told Anand that when he went to the sarpanch with their complaints, he threatened and thrashed them. “He told us we had done nothing to be eligible for the pension,” said a villager on condition of anonymity. The villagers also complained that there are huge irregularities in the distribution of BPl cards.