Exhibiting zero tolerance towards corruption, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday took punitive actions against at least four engineers. The poor power scenario also attracted his attention when he reviewed the State electricity situation at Dumka.
Soren ordered five-year denial of promotion to Bhola Ram, under suspension for his casual approach to supervision of a bridge being built on Barakar river in Dhanbad. In another case, the Chief Minister granted permission to investigate assistant engineer Surendra Prasad of the Rural Engineering Organisation (REO). Prasad has been charged with certifying 12 fake bitumen invoices causing loss to the exchequer worth lakhs.
In a similar case, action has been taken against Ganpat Rao, assistant engineer of NHAI and Chandra Prakash Singh, then executive engineer (road construction, Jamtara) and a departmental probe ordered against them. Soren also gave sanction for prosecution against Surya Nath Singh, retired assistant engineer, under Sections 467, 468, 419 and 420 IPC. Meanwhile, the Vigilance Bureau will probe suspended junior engineer Ram Vinod Sinha for assimilating wealth in excess to his known sources of income.
Soren is on a three-day visit to Santhal Pargana. On the power front, he instructed Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) chairman SN Verma to improve supply and make it uninterrupted, especially during peak hours. The CM also took stock of supply situation in Dumka and Santhal Pargana. The JSEB chairman updated Soren about defunct transformers that are the bane of the board. The CM sought time-bound repair or replacement. He also ordered giving equal priority to rural and urban areas.
Verma assured Soren that the situation in the State — Santhal Pargana and Dumka in particular — would soon see improvement. He also said the board is looking to induct 2,500 employees in the near future.