Bhubaneswar: Four officials of the office of the Project Director, Watershed, in Rayagada district were apprehended by Odisha Vigilance on Thursday for allegedly misappropriating over Rs 20 lakh without excavation of farm ponds under NREGS.
The four were nabbed following investigation into allegations of misappropriation of government funds.
The accused officials were identified as Rajendra Nath Naik, Asst. Project Director- cum- Project Implementing Agency (APD-cum-PIA), Jogendra Khosla, Soil Conservation Overseer, Deepak Kumar Sahoo, Soil Conservation Overseer and Srikumar Nayak, Soil Conservation Extension Worker.
A Vigilance statement said that these four officers were found to have embezzled government money to the tune of Rs 20 lakh without excavation of 23 farm ponds in different villages of Kashipur Block in Rayagada district.
The accused officials and staffer of the same office were also found to have siphoned off the money to accounts of labourers having job cards and withdrawn the same. Transactions are under verification.
Further, the number of farm ponds cited for misappropriation of funds may also increase as the planned water bodies are in remote and forest areas of Kashipur Block, and the verification is being carried out by Vigilance teams.
In this connection, Koraput Vigilance has registered a case against all the accused persons and investigation is underway. Further details are awaited.
