68 engineers, 3 firms booked for fraud
2 min readPatna: The state government on Tuesday ordered the officials concerned to lodge FIRs against 68 government engineers and three big contractors for committing serious irregularities in the repair of anti-flood embankments, renovation of canals and construction of cross drainage structures in different irrigation divisions in Purnia, Saharsa, Madhepura and Katihar districts.
The decision was taken after mandatory approval from chief minister Nitish Kumar and state water resources department (WRD) minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh as some of the engineers involved in the irregularities were up to the rank of executive engineers and assistant engineers and came under the bracket of state government’s gazetted officers, a department official familiar with the development told TOI.
Besides lodging FIRs, separate departmental proceedings would also be initiated against the 68 engineers, who are in the rank of junior engineer, assistant engineer and executive engineer in different irrigation divisions, WRD’s public relations officer Arvind Kumar Singh said.
He said the construction firms to be named in the FIRs were Messrs Mangalmurty Construction, Bailey Road, Patna, Messrs IVRCL, Hyderabad and Messrs NR-JKN-Kamal (JV).
Singh said among the 68 engineers, 42 are in Purnia irrigation region. Serious lapses were found during a departmental inquiry in the works related to renovation of East Kosi canal. Similarly, 20 engineers of Katihar and Salmari flood control divisions in Katihar district were accused of committing irregularities in repair and renovation works of left and right embankments of Mahananda river under the Upper Mahananda Plan-Phase 1.
The department, in an internal inquiry in irrigation division of Murliganj (Madhepura), also found that works were not done as per the approved estimates for construction of a cross-drainage structure. In Saharsa, an internal inquiry revealed that works were not done as per the approved estimates for construction of a water outlet, the PRO said.
Courtesy: TNN
