HUBBALLI: Including an executive engineer, a total 20 staff of Hubli Electricity Supply Company Limited (Hescom) have been suspented and seven others have been transferred for involvement in Rs 86 crore corruption cases.
It was alleged that crores of rupees have been looted by the Hescom officials of the Athani division in the Belagavi district. In this regard, a private complaint was filed in August 2021. As per the complaint, funds of complex construction, Ganga Kalyana, water supply, OTM, Prime Minister’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and many schemes were not implemented in the division, but bills were cleared and money has been looted.
Soon after receiving the complaint about the illegalities, Hescom managing director Bharathi D launched a team consisting of chief accountants, auditors, engineers and other top officials to inspect the case. “I have directed the team to inspect and audit from August 2018 to August 2021. During the audit, it has been found that Rs 86 crore has been billed for not completed and not taken works”, said Bharathi.
The team submitted a preliminary report to the Hescom office and the same report has been sent to the power ministry recently. It is found that one in-charge executive engineer, four assistant executive engineers, 12 section officers, accountants and a few other staff are directly involved in the corruption, and seven other staff supported the corruption.
As the report was sent to the ministry, Power Minister V Sunil Kumar suspended all 20 staff and also transferred seven other staff. Rs 29 crore was billed for works which were not taken and Rs 57 crore was billed for half-completed works, double works and other types of illegalities done by the suspended staff.
Sunil Kumar said, the power ministry will not entertain such corruption anywhere and he will take stern action against the culprits. He is trying to bring transparency in the department and with the help of good staff, organisations and the public he will take strict action against officers who support corruption.