E-Paper
Suspended BDPO booked for embezzling ₹ 7.45 crore panchayat funds in Tarn Taran
Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal had suspended the BDPO in May in another case of embezzlement of funds
A block development and panchayat officer in Tarn Taran district was on Tuesday booked for alleged embezzlement of panchayat funds to the tune of ₹ 7.45 crore, about six weeks after he was suspended in another such case.
Panchayat officer Lal Singh, who is absconding, of Valtoha block in the district had allegedly embezzled the amount from five different schemes during the period from 2019-2022, said district development and panchayat officer (DDPO) Satish Sharma.
The case was registered on the complaint of the rural development and panchayat department of Punjab government with senior superintendent of police Ranjit Singh Dhillon on June 1 following a departmental probe conducted by the Tarn Taran DDPO on the direction of Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who had suspended the accused in May in another case of embezzlement of funds. The minister had received a complaint of misappropriation of crores of rupees in Valtoha block.
The SSP had marked the further investigation of the case to deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Lakhwinder Singh. A case under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 13 (1) (1a), (13-2) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act (amendment) at Valtoha police station.
As per the complaint, the copy of which is with HT, social education and panchayat officer (SEPO) Lal Singh was given the charge of BDPO Valtoha. During his posting at Valtoha, Lal Singh had received ₹ 60 lakh grant for panchayat buildings, but he used only ₹ 10.17 lakh for their development. Out of the total grant, the officer has allegedly misappropriated ₹ 49.82 lakh.
Similarly, ₹ 4.48 crore was received in the account of panchayat samiti Valtoha under the border area development programme (BADP) scheme. However, the officer has not utilised the amount ‘as per the norms’ and caused ‘loss’ to the panchayat samiti. Moreover, ₹ 3.01 crore was received to panchayat samiti Valtoha under Punjab Nirman Programme. Out of the total ₹ 3.01 crore, ₹ 17.01 crore was allegedly embezzled by the BDPO.
The complaint further says that ₹ 4.40 crore was received by Gharyala village’s Baba Atma Singh Panchayat, but ₹ 2.60 crore was misappropriated by the officer from this fund.
Similarly, the BDPO, during his posting in Valtoha, utilised only one instalment of 20 per cent grant of 15th pay commission in the Valtoha Panchayat samiti, and according to the report of a junior engineer, only ₹ 50 lakhs of development works have been conducted, and ₹ 49 lakh are found to be misappropriated by the BDPO.
