Is the local body a part of this corruption or have they turned a blind eye to the Scam?
Nagpur – Yet another case of misappropriation of govt funds has come to fore in Lonara Gram panchayat, Godhani Railway, suggesting involvement of Gram Sarpanch, Gram Up Sarpanch, Secretary of Gram Panchayat Lonara ,Godhani railway and possibly Member of Zilla Parishad and one another prominent leader from the constituency and also the Public Works Department No 2.
The PWD No 2 engineer had a very superior tone when NT team asked him about the entire matter. He stated that the priority was given to the first construct the culvert bridge from the sanctioned fund and the remaining funds were utilized to construct the road, so with the remainder of what ever amount was left only a portion of the road could be constructed. He also added that the information on the work completion board stating construction of 2 km of road and the culvert bridge is mentioned to clear the bills of the contractor and the details on the board are as the project commencement board that was erected to announce the work. The exact stretch of 2 km road is just symbolic, since the allocated and sanctioned amount might not be enough to construct the entire 2 km road , so only 400 meters of road could be constructed. When NT team asked him if his statement can be used to quote what he said, he said that, “Come to my office, submit an application for details and information, then we will see what has to be quoted”.
The scam that the locals pointed out is that a total sum of 22 lakhs was sanctioned to build a 2 Kilometer road including one culvert bridge (Puliya) towards Mahadula In Lonara pump house area coming under Lonara Gram Panchayat jurisdiction. The Bhoomi Pujan was done with great pomp and show by Zilla Parishad Member and other above-mentioned Gram Panchayat dignitaries. But for almost one year despite erecting the board announcing the project and its detail the road work failed to commence. After getting pressurized by the locals demanding the commencement of construction of the proposed project (road and the culvert bridge) finally the work started keeping in mind the gram Panchayat election (and when the Secretary was asked the reason for almost an years delay in commencing the a of project he said ,” A repeated tender had to be floated since the earlier bidder backed out , and it took them time to find another bidder and complete the formalities for the approval of the new tender”
The question of interest here is , Was the earlier bidder out of his senses to quote for a project, get the tender approved in his favor and then back out ( citing that he had bidden too low for the contract and hence won’t be able to complete the project for the amount sanctioned to him as per his tender) or The Gram Panchayat is out of their senses trying to make believe a concocted story to the locals?
However, the much awaited project of road and culvert bridge construction finally started on approximately 19th December 2022 (almost an year later then the project start date) and ended in approx 3 weeks. And here is where the scandal came to light because the road is just 400 meters in entire length 2 km long and the culvert bridge was laid with concrete slab just 4 days back. The so-called road is barely 2 meter wide and its basically just base foundation of 80mm boulder covered with murrum pressed by a road roller. The total length of the road is less than half kilometer ( 400 meters). On the other hand, the so-called culvert bridge is still not useable as the concrete was laid just 4 days ago.
The question remains that Why the road was not constructed as per the project specified on the display boards of being 2 km in length?
Are the local bodies aware of this scam and if yes are they going to Punish the culprits or will they be just mock spectators and accessories in this corruption?
