Two sarpanches, one panch suspended

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, May 25

Rohtash Singh Kharb, Deputy Commissioner (DC), today suspended two sarpanches and a panch of three villages of Yamunanagar district on different charges.

Taking action on two complaints of Capt (redt) Kirpal Singh Sandhu and Harjit Singh of Naharpur village, the DC suspended Ashok Kumar, sarpanch of their village, for committing financial irregularities in the fund of development works.

The complainants alleged that the sarpanch had installed handpumps illegally in the houses of people of his village, spending panchayat funds instead of installing them on the panchayat land. They said the sarpanch committed grave financial irregularities in buying two water coolers and 50 dustbins for the village.

They further alleged that someone stole bricks from the stadium of the village. The thief was identified and the gram panchayat imposed a fine of Rs 1.2 lakh on him. But the sarpanch didn’t show the amount in the record of the gram panchayat and spent it. In an inquiry conducted by the ADC, the allegations were found to be true.

In another case, the DC suspended Mohammad Inaam, sarpanch of Bibipur village, for contesting the sarpanch election on fake Class X certificate with his nomination paper. After receiving a complaint from Kabir of Bibipur village, the Yamunanagar District Education Officer conducted an inquiry in which the certificate was found fake.

The DC also suspended Darshani Devi, panch of Golni village. She had received two grants from the government — one of Rs 50,000 under the BR Ambedkar Aawas Yojana and another of Rs 25,000 under the Indira Aawas Yojana. As per rule, a person can get such grant only under one scheme.