GUNTUR: Taking note of ‘irregularities’ committed at the Namburu panchayat office, Guntur district collector M. Venu Gopal Reddy has revoked the disbursal power of the local sarpanch. He also suspended three panchayat staff.
After receiving several complaints about the irregularities occurring at the office, the collector ordered an inquiry. It was found that funds to the tune of Rs 2.9 crore were misappropriated and staff there had purposefully delayed uploading details of tax funds for several months, on a government portal.
One of the staff had even used Rs 32 lakh of the office funds for personal use and deposited the amount to his bank account on the day of inquiry. The staff didn’t submit expenditure proposals and submitted additional and false bills to the authorities to withdraw money.
The collector issued orders suspending three staffers Balaramireddy, Yedukondalu, and Baji and issued show-cause notices on two officials Ramesh Babu and Naganand.
He also recommended the suspension of panchayat secretaries B Khan and Sambasiva Rao to the Panchayat Raj commissioner. The collector, who also received complaints of irregularities at the Tenali and Chebrolu panchayat offices, has ordered another inquiry to look into the affairs of those offices.