KENDRAPARA: The State government on Tuesday dismissed the sarpanch of Rajnagar gram panchayat on the charge of siphoning off around Rs 9 lakh without planting trees under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The action was taken on the basis of the district administration’s inquiry report which found that sarpanch Pravat Chandra Mishra, panchayat executive officer (PEO) Pravat Mallick and gramya rojagar sathi (GRS) Pramod Sahoo siphoned off the money by planting only a few trees under the rural job scheme in Rajnagar.
Sources said the authorities had granted Rs 9,19,984 to plant trees under the scheme by engaging local workers. The plantation work started on June 22 and of the total grant, Rs 2,71,216 was allotted to pay wages to the workers.
While the money was paid to the workers only on paper, a few trees were planted in reality.
When the irregularities came to the fore, the then block development officer (BDO) lodged a complaint against the sarpanch, PEO and GRS with Rajnagar police last year. Acting on the FIR, police registered a case against the trio under sections 420, 409 and 34 of the IPC, said Rajnagar BDO Rabindra Pradhan.
“During inquiry, the trees were found to be non-existent. The district administration suspended the PEO and GRS last year and had recommended the Panchayati Raj department to take action against the sarpanch for his involvement in the tree plantation scam,” the BDO added. Sarpanch Mishra could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.