Village Sarpanch and panchayat secretary also booked

Chandigarh : The Punjab Vigilance Bureau during its drive against corruption on Thursday registered a corruption case against Gurpreet Singh, Executive Engineer, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Abohar, Vijay Kumar, Sub-Divisional Engineer, Subhash Chandra JE, Gurnam Singh Contractor, gram panchayat committee president and Sarpanch Baj Singh Mammukheda and Sohan Lal Panchayat Secretary for causing financial loss of Rs. 5,98,312 to the state exchequer during construction of water works in the village Mammukheda, Fazilka district.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesman of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) said this case has been registered after a vigilance enquiry under section 409, 120-B of IPC and section 13(1) (a) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at VB police station Ferozepur against the above mentioned accused.

He informed that during the investigation it was found that the quantity of cement plaster used during the construction of this water works was found to be 39.51 percent less than the required amount as per the report received after analysis. The payment of Rs. 5,98,312 in this regard has resulted in financial loss to the government as the quality of this cement plaster was not as per specifications, he added.

The spokesman further added that the construction on this water works as per the plan includes inlet channel, high level tank, clear water tank, filter band and a tank which was completed by the private contractor Gurnam Singh under the supervision of Subhash Chander JE, Vijay Kumar SDE, Ravinder Singh Bansal and Gurpreet Singh both Xen. The said work has been executed under the supervision of village level committee headed by Baj Singh Sarpanch and Secretary Sohan Lal.

During the investigation, it was found that Executive Engineer Ravinder Singh Bansal has not release any payment to the concerned contractor for the said work during his posting tenure of about three months. In this case Gurpreet Singh Xen, Vijay Kumar SDE (Retd), Subhash Chander JE, Contractor Gurnam Singh, Baj Singh Sarpanch and Sohan Lal Secretary of gram panchayat have been booked by the VB for causing financial loss to the government. Further investigation in this case was under progress.