Construction of flats: Govt suspends 4 officials for lapses

Tribune News Service

Barnala, March 30

Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has suspended four government officials for financial irregularities in the construction of flats at Maharaja Agarsain Enclave in Barnala.

The officials who have been suspended are; Assistant Trust Engineer Baljit Singh, Trust Engineer Satbhushan Sachdeva, Executive Officers (EOs) Jatinder Singh and Jeevan Bansal. Apart from this, orders have been issued chargesheeting these four officials along with Junior Engineer Ram Singh.

In a press release, the minister said during a high-level probe, it came to light that these officials, who were with the Improvement Trust, Barnala, had committed grave financial irregularities in the construction of LIG flats in the enclave, causing a financial loss to the state. A probe confirmed that the officials sanctioned payment for contractors even for those works which had not been done. Apart from it, the possession of flats was also not given in time and there was no quality control during the construction.

“It’s big scam as at the time of allotment, the authorities had promised to provide all basic amenities till 2013 but we still have not got proper water supply. As the poor material was used in the construction, I spent around Rs 8 lakh on the renovation of my flat before shifting there. The government must order arrest of all officials,” said Laxmi Garg, a resident of the enclave.

Executive Officer, Improvement Trust, Ravinder Kumar said since all flats were not occupied yet, they were not releasing full water supply yet. “We will hire new staff next month for the maintenance of the park,” he said.