2 BDPOs among 35 suspended in Patiala rural fund embezzlement case

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The secretary, rural development, Punjab, has suspended two block development and panchayat officers (BDPOs), five sarpanches and 28 panches, besides issuing show-cause notice to two DDPOs in a multi-crore embezzlement by rural development officials in Patiala’s Shambu block.

The amount of the scam has crossed 100 crore. The department has decided to lodge an FIR against the erring officials and panchayats.

Panchayat secretary Jasbir Chand, a relative of local Congress MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur, is among the officials who were earlier suspended.

As per information, the department has issued show-cause notices to DDPOs Surinder Singh Dhillon and Rup Singh, while suspended BDPOs Rajesh Kumar and Gurpehal Singh.

The secretary, rural development, Rahul Bhandari confirmed the suspension. “I am not going to spare those who are involved. The department will lodge an FIR in the scam, besides initiating proceedings to recover the money,” he said.

He said he is more concerned over the lapse on the part of supervisory officials, including DDPOs.

Jaswinder Singh Akari, the whistle-blower, said as he raised the issue in 2020, he was booked by the police at the behest of local politicians. “After that, I approached the high court and the matter was referred for a probe to the department and the secretary, rural development, cracked the whip,” he said.

He added that so far, 45 persons are suspended, which includes panches, sarpanches and rural development officials. He claimed that a CBI probe will disclose that the money was embezzled at the behest of politicians.

The amount was reportedly embezzled from 260-crore compensation given to five village panchayats for the acquisition of 1,000 acres for the construction of the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) and the development of an industrial cluster. Neither technical approvals were taken nor any approval was taken from the competent authority to spend this money.

According to the report, 10 crore was embezzled from the compensation given to Takhtupura panchayat, 13 crore from Sehri, 15 crore from Sehra, 17 crore from Aakri and 13 crore from Pabra. The work orders were issued on the basis of rough estimates, and officials didn’t even take any technical and financial approval, reads the report of a three-member committee.

It further said that they could not find any record from the bank for 10crore which has been shown as a fixed deposit in a bank by Sehra panchayat and it is feared that the panchayat secretary and sarpanch had embezzled the amount. The report further said that the HC passed orders in November 2020 to not use this money, but the officials distributed the amount of these villages in 84 different villages. The amount was used for routine activities, instead of creating infrastructure.


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