YC hails action against tainted officials

Raipur, November 26, 2011

The Youth Congress (YC) has hailed Raipur Collector’s action against officials who were allegedly involved in irregularities in MNREGA works in gram panchayat Kusmand under Arang janpad. The YC has also demanded sacking of sarpanch and criminal case against him for his nexus with the tainted officials.

The president of YC’s Raipur Lok Sabha Vinod Tiwari on Saturday said that the Collector took action against the officials after his organisation mounted pressure on local administration and government though continuous agitations.

“We had complained against Kusmand gram panchayat sarpanch to the Collector and Raipur district panchayat CEO back in June 2011. We informed him that the sarpanch along with the janpad and panchayat officials had misappropriated the funds released for carrying out works under Indira Awas Yojna, toilet construction, water tank construction, etc. These corrupts produced fake bills to the higher authorities convinced them that works had been done,” Tiwari said.

“Taking cognisance of our complaint, the Raipur district panchayat CEO probed into the matter and found that the sarpanch, former sarpanch and seven officials were involved in corruption. He recommended Arang janpad panchayat CEO to take stern action against all the guilty officials and sack the sarpanch by writing a letter to him. He also wrote a letter to Superintendent of Police Raipur to take lodge criminal case against him. However, no action was taken against any official while the sarpanch too was spared because he belonged to BJP,” said Tiwari.

He informed that the Collector was compelled to take action against the officials after YC persistently raised the issue through its protest movements. The Collector has sacked the three officials and suspended the three other while wrote a letter to the deputy commissioner Panchayat to sack CEO gram panchayat Kusmand.

“Still, our task is unfinished as the sarpanch has not yet been trapped. We will continue our agitation till he gets arrested,” Tiwari said.