Road Contract ‘Scam’: 3 Engineers Booked In Odisha’s Jajpur

Jajpur: Three engineers of the Rural Development department have been booked by Kaliapani police for their alleged role in a road construction scam in the district.

Bijaya Maharana (executive engineer, Jajpur Division 1), Muduli Venkat Raman (additional executive engineer, Duburi sub-division) and Rasananada Barik (junior engineer, Tomka section) were booked under sections 420, 406 and 34 of the IPC on an FIR lodged by superintendent engineer, Jajpur and Kendrapada circle, Sanjeeb Kumar Das.

“The accused have been served notice and asked to reach the police station to record their statements,” Kaliapani IIC Sushant Kumar Das said.

In the FIR it has been alleged that the EE, with the complicity of the other two, released security deposit of Rs 65 lakh to an errant contractor who didn’t take care of the maintenance of a rural road despite mandated in his contract. Later, he allegedly awarded work for further repair of the road through several ‘secret’ tenders worth over Rs 43 lakh and their payments were cleared despite shoddy work by them, it has been alleged.

The case came to the fore when locals complained about the poor road condition to senior officials including ACS Rural Development Pradip Kumar Jena, who then ordered a probe.