Notice to sarpanch over fund bungling

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, May 13

The sarpanch and former panchayat secretary of Hartari village in the Israna block of the district have been allegedly found involved in the misappropriation of panchayat funds of Rs1.51 crore.

The then panchayat secretary Narender Singh of Didwari was awarded the Padma Shri for excellent work in veterinary field last year.

BDPO submitted its report to DC Hema Sharma about the misappropriation of panchayat funds. The DC on Wednesday chargesheeted Narender and issued a show-cause notice to Gurmeet.

BDPO Jitender Kumar, in his report to the DC on March 9, said he had sought record from all panchayats in the area but the sarpanch of Hartari village and the then panchayat secretary did not deposit any record.

After this, the charge of Hartari village was given to panchayat secretary Satish Kumar, but even he didn’t provide any record to him, the report says. After that the BDPO sought the bank account details of the panchayat. As per the record, the village panchayat received a grant of Rs1.51 crore from the state government from April 2018 to August 2019.

It was revealed that Gurmeet and Narender had withdrawn the cash from the bank. After that the BDPO along with technical officials visited the sites in Hartari village on March 2 and assessed the ongoing works.

The report says Gurmeet and Narinder had reportedly caused financial loss to the village panchayat. They had withdrawn the amount from the bank account without completing the records, which were not properly verified by the SDO concerned of the Panchayati Raj Department, which is mandatory.

Officials refute allegations

Gurmeet and Narender, however, refuted the allegations at a press conference held in Israna on Wednesday.

Narender said they had been falsely accused. “All works have been completed in the village and the BDPO had reportedly stopped the JE to complete the records.” He alleged that the BDPO was accusing him intentionally as he was jealous of his award. Narender said he stayed there only for four months i.e. from June 27 to November 19, 2019.

Gurmeet said all works were completed in the village and if they had been assessed, he would have been liable to take money from the panchayat. He alleged that the action was being taken against him just because he refused to pay commissions.

The BDPO, however, said Narender was also allegedly involved in the misappropriation of panchayat funds in Mandi village of Israna, the report of which was sent to the DC on February 27.