Shoddy work, funds lapse too

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 29

The panchayat of Dhulkot village in Gidderbaha sub-division has been running from pillar to post for the past seven months to know who repaired the sewerage pipeline.

A sum of Rs 6 lakh had been released on this count by the Centre in the panchayat’s account. Surjit Singh, the Akali sarpanch of the village, accused a SGPC member of the area saying, “A constituency incharge carried out the work in a botched manner. He did not have any authority but did this work to usurp grants forcibly from the panchayat. He even pressed me to release the grants, but I refused. The grants lapsed.”

“Since then we are repeatedly asking the district administration to inform us that which agency had carried out the work, but are not getting any reply. The funds for the repair work were deposited in the bank account of the panchayat in December. The work was done in January by the SGPC member. A large number of people are affected due to the poor condition of the works but no official concerned is paying any attention,” he claimed.

He showed some documents of the Rural Development Department, Punjab Mandi Board and Soil Conservation Department, which he had procured under the RTI Act, wherein it was clearly mentioned that they had neither carried out the work nor paid the money to anyone.

DC Sumeet Jarangal has asked for a probe by the Rural Development Department.

Courtesy: The Tribune