Panchayat officer, GRS suspended for swindling Rs 1.5cr of govt funds
Berhampur: The Kandhamal administration has suspended the panchayat executive officer (PEO) and a former gram rozgar sevak (GRS) of Durgapanga panchayat for allegedly misappropriating over Rs 1.50 crore of development funds in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
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Kandhamal collector Amrit Ruturaj suspended PEO Bishnu Charan Behera and Balaram Sethi, former GRS, recently after the district administration found the misappropriation following an inquiry. Sethi is now assistant data entry operator in Gumma panchayat, sources said.
"We conducted an inquiry through assistant executive officers (finance and administration) of the zilla parishad (ZP) after getting a complaint from the block development officer (BDO) of Kotagarh recently," Sambhu Nath Nandi, chief executive officer of the ZP, said on Sunday.
Besides office documents, they also conducted field visits fields to enquire into the allegations.
"The inquiry revealed that the duo misappropriated over Rs 24.82 lakh from the Central Finance Commission (CFC) fund, Rs 21.51 lakh from the State Finance Commission (SFC) fund and around Rs 1.08 crore from MGNREGS from 2023 to 2025," he said.
Earlier, several people had alleged the duo had misappropriated funds without executing works.
He said they also filed a complaint against the duo with the vigilance department to take appropriate legal action. "The anti-corruption agency is enquiring into the matter," he added.
Involvement of the sarpanch in the corruption was being probed. Vigilance sleuths would also enquire about the misappropriation of govt funds and those involved in the corruption, sources said.
"We have formed a special team at the district level. The team visits the spot to take stock, if they get any complaint about corruption," said Nandi.
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