Rs 14.92 lakh swindled in the name of building cowshed
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service
Jammu, September 14
A scam of swindling Rs 14.92 lakh in the name of ‘protecting cows’ has been unearthed in the Akhnoor sub-division of Jammu province. The money was withdrawn from a government department in the name of constructing a ‘gaushala’ (cowshed) which was never constructed.
Following the directions of an anti-corruption court, sleuths of the state Vigilance Organisation on Friday conducted raids and seized records from different departments. “A formal FIR will be registered only after going through the record,” an official, who was part of the team that conducted the raids, told The Tribune.
RTI activist Sunil Sharma, who has exposed the scam, said for the past four months he approached many officials but to no avail. “Ultimately, I approached the anti-corruption court which directed the Vigilance Organisation to conduct a probe,” Sharma said.
As per documents procured by Sharma through RTI, an amount worth Rs 14.92 lakh was paid by the Block Development Officer (BDO), Akhnoor, to one individual in two instalments for developmental works. “In some documents, it was mentioned that the amount was released for the construction of a gaushala (cowshed) at Mawa Karore panchayat, Gurha Brahmana East, but one document of the block development department said the money was sanctioned for constructing a cattle pond,” he said while showing official documents. He said the authorities admitted that the work for the cowshed was not executedby the department.
Sources said the amount was sanctioned in the name of a ‘gaushala’ instead one pond situated in the vicinity was repaired to fraudulently withdraw the funds. “We have asked some technocrats to prepare an estimate of the pond repair work against which Rs 14.92 lakh was withdrawn,” the official of the Vigilance Organisation, who wished not be quoted, said.
“Initially, it appears that an excessive amount was withdrawn for constructing a cowshed but on the ground only one pond was repaired,” he said.
