BHAWANIPATNA: Crores of rupees taken as advance towards payment under various and schemes and development projects have remained unaccountable for years in Kalahandi district. Many government officials who had taken these sums of money have either been transferred, retired while some have even passed away resulting in non-furnishing of utilisation certificates (UCs).
The shocking facts came to light through an RTI application submitted to various blocks of the district. The practice of availing advance has now been replaced by direct benefit transfer (DBT) method of fund disbursement which indicates that most of these unaccounted for payments have remained untraced over the years.
The RTI response revealed that in Thuamul Rampur block alone, advance to the tune of Rs 6.75 crore taken by 43 government employees for various development works are pending clearance. Among them, 30 have been transferred to other blocks, two retired and one is no more.
The response of block administration officials to the RTI query revealed that government employees like junior engineers, assistant engineers, field staff of Livelihood Mission, village level workers (VLW) /village executive officers (VEO), gram rozgar sevaks (GRS) had taken advance under various schemes and projects but many of these are still pending clearance without submission of UCs.
In Lanjigarh block, Rs 11 crore advance is outstanding against 94 employees including 43 PEOs and 16 GRSs. In the meantime, 70 of the defaulters were transferred to other blocks, 14 retired and eight are dead.
Discrepancies were reported in Kesinga block too where Rs 2.84 crore advance is outstanding against 44 employees mostly towards different welfare schemes and pensions. This is only the tip of the iceberg as sources say the scenario is more or less similar in all the 13 blocks of the district.
In most cases, it is not known whether the funds taken were actually utilised as no bill or voucher was reportedly submitted by the officials who took the advance money for implementing various schemes, disbursing pension and other development works.
This has brought the administration under scanner as no action at district or sub-division levels has been initiated against erring officials nor any steps taken to fix accountability. Collector Parag Harshad Gavali said giving advances is no longer in practice. "All block officials have been directed to look into the matter. The administration has directed BDOs to resolve the cases within a fortnight," he said.
RTI reveals
Thuamul Rampur block - Rs 6.75 crore advance taken by 43 government employees
Lanjigarh block - Rs 11 crore advance outstanding against 94 employees
Kesinga block - Rs 2.84 crore advance is outstanding against 44 employees
Most advances taken for implementing various welfare schemes, disbursal of pension and other development works