Latest news with #SanjayAndhavan
The Print
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
After cabinet meet, Mohan Yadav govt issues show cause to official who ordered probe against minister
The previous day, Sanjay Andhavan, engineer-in-chief of the public health engineering department, had ordered an inquiry into claims involving expenditure of a portion of the Rs 30,000 crore in central funds received for work under the Jal Jeevan Mission. In a letter, Andhavan ordered officials in the department to look into properties held by Uikey as well as the executive engineer in Mandla, alleged to be 'collecting money' for the minister. During the state cabinet meeting Tuesday, Uikey who is the minister for public health engineering and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Mandla questioned whether the official could initiate an inquiry against her, eventually leading to the show cause. Bhopal: A day after the start of an enquiry into allegations of corruption against state minister Sampatiya Uikey, the Madhya Pradesh government Wednesday issued a show cause notice to the official who ordered the probe. At the state cabinet briefing Tuesday, Uikey raised the issue before Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and sought to know the extent of the engineer's authority. A state BJP leader said on condition of anonymity that Uikey also urged Yadav to act against Andhavan for initiating what she termed 'unsubstantiated' allegations. The demand was backed by a larger section of ministers present, it is learnt. Soon after, Public Health Engineering Principal Secretary P. Narhari was issued directions to provide a clarification on the matter. Speaking to The Print, Narhari said, 'We have issued a show cause notice to engineer-in-chief Sanjay Andhavan, seeking his explanation on ordering a probe into the complaint.' 'We receive several complaints against public representatives and public servants. The engineer-in-chief is supposed to check the facts, as well as work with authorities in his capacity, without initiating an inquiry. The engineer-in-chief is under the minister, not the other way round,' he added. The allegations stem from a complaint Kishore Samrite, national president of Sanyukt Kranti Party, sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that ministers, officers, and contractors in Madhya Pradesh were misusing funds meant to provide tap water connections to rural households. In his complaint, Samrite alleged that the accused had already misused Rs 1,000 crore from central funds allocated to the state. The PMO forwarded the complaint to the Madhya Pradesh chief secretary, and then, the public health engineering department. 'The response received from the engineer-in-chief on the show cause notice issued to him will decide the further course of action, whether a departmental inquiry against him will continue or not. However, any person holding his post will be well aware of the rules,' said a senior official from the MP government who did not wish to be named. (Edited by Madhurita Goswami) Also Read: Madhya Pradesh CM's convoy comes to a grinding halt after cars are refuelled with 'water-mixed' diesel
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Govt gives clean chit to PHE minister, closes probe in 10 days
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh govt closed an internal inquiry into a complaint alleging irregularities involving Rs 30,000 crore allocated under the Jal Jeevan Mission and involving Public Health Engineering (PHE) minister Sampatiya Uikey within 10 days. The PHE Department described the allegations as "baseless and without evidence." Former MLA Kishore Samrite filed the complaint, and the PMO forwarded it to Chief Secretary Anurag Jain, who passed it to Principal Secretary P Narhari's office. He subsequently moved it to Chief Engineer Sanjay Andhavan (ENC), who initiated an inquiry. The state govt issued an official release stating that the inquiry was closed due to lack of evidence. Meanwhile, insiders say that engineer-in-chief (ENC) Sanjay Andhavan, who took cognizance of the matter, faces internal pressure for his 'proactive' handling of a politically sensitive issue. He reportedly faces heat within the department for acting quickly on a complaint involving a sitting minister. The internal inquiry concluded in less than 10 days found that the complaint relied solely on RTI documents and lacked verifiable proof of financial misconduct. The department called the allegations "fabricated, baseless, and devoid of facts." Not convinced by the findings, Samrite approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court, seeking a CBI investigation. He alleged that PHE minister Sampatiya Uikey received Rs 1,000 crore in commission from Jal Jeevan Mission funds and accused a former ENC of siphoning off Rs 2,000 crore through his accountant. Additional allegations include the withdrawal of Rs 150 crore by the executive engineer in Betul without executing any work and the submission of fake completion certificates for over 7,000 projects. Samrite also demanded an audit of nearly 27,000 utilisation certificates submitted by engineers across the state as proof of completed projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission. He claimed that "all the certificates are fake," and were created to falsely justify fund disbursement. He claims that despite the magnitude of the allegations, the state govt did not escalate the matter beyond the departmental inquiry — and moreover had this inquired by a junior-level officer instead of transferring it to a different agency. Attempts to reach minister Sampatiya Uikey for comment were unsuccessful. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Doctor's Day 2025 , messages and quotes!
