Scam at Hari Nagar Panchayat worth Rs. 57 lakhs

 

Trinath
Billy Ground, Nov 22: The Pradhan of Hari Nagar Panchayat of Middle Andaman has come under fire once again after publication of a news item by a local newspaper regarding a scam in the Panchayat worth nearly Rs. 57 Lakhs.
When Andaman Sheekha reporter conducted inquiry in this regard it was found that there are serious irregularities in use of public money in the Panchayat.

Even a audit team had found that purchases have been made by the said Panchayat worth Rs. 33,71,308/- without following the codal formalities for Purchases as per GPR rules.

There were Irregular Purchases of Children’s Park Equipment amounting 32,49,000/- (during the period 2006 – 2007) & 1,99,000/- (during 2007 – 2008). There was loss of Govt. Money amounting Rs. 10,02,000/- on purchase of Children Park and Fogging Machine and Fogging Chemicals. Irregularities in Stock Register and loss of revenues to the tune of Rs. 42,736/- were also found.

There was highly irregular, injudicious and wasteful expenditure on a wall Clock amounting Rs. 80,000/- and there was shortage of fogging Chemicals (477 ltrs) amounting Rs. 11,92,500/-. Altogether the audit team had found doubtful Expenditure on purchase to the tune of Rs. 57,13,408/-

However, when contacted the Present Pradhan of Hari Nagar Panchayat, Mr. Hiranmoy Roy told Andaman Sheekha that though after publication of news all guns have been pointed towards him but the fact is that all these purchases were made during the tenure of last Pradhan (2005-2010), Mrs. Uma Mistry, who hailed from Bharatiya Janta Party.

The present Pradhan also lashed out on the media house, which published the half-baked news without mentioning about the dates, when those purchases were made.

 

Though the Pradhan claims that his nose is clean but the fact remains that there was a scam in the said Panchayat and no criminal case has been registered yet against the people, who had master minded the scam.

Andaman Sheekha Correspondent has also gathered a photographs in which it is clearly visible that when the last Pradhan was questioned by the then DC, she had returned some of the materials, which were missing from stock. This is a classic example of fence eating crop.

“It seems that the Administration and Police Department has two sets of rules for ordinary citizen and politicians. The Administration must hand over the case to Anti-Corruption or CCS and arrest the person who has looted nearly Rs. 57 lakhs, which is actually public money,” said a senior citizen of Billyground.