Stench from toilet scam spreads as officials dig up more info

Coimbatore: A day after TOI’s sensational expose on the siphoning off of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) grant to build toilets at K Madhapur village near Sulur, three teams of officials from the district rural development agency (DRDA) headed by project director Roopan Shankar Raja landed in the village on Tuesday morning and launched an investigation into the scam.
The officials found 212 beneficiaries, who had claimed money for toilets under the mission, even though they had constructed them several years ago using their own fund. Out of that, 48 payments had been withheld.

TOI had reported on Monday that out of the 158 toilets claimed to have been built under SBM in the village, less than 50 were constructed. Villagers were made to pose in front of the same toilet to receive the grant of Rs 12,000 claiming all were different toilets. In 2015-2016 alone, 100 toilets were constructed at the village under the SBM scheme for which the Union government released Rs 12 lakh as grant. Under the MGNREGA scheme, 50 toilets were constructed and Rs 6 lakh was given as grant. Instead of crediting the amount in the beneficiary account as per the norms, the scamsters credited the money in the contractor’s and vendor’s accounts.

The villagers told DRDA officials that they were made to pose in front of the same toilet. They said they they were mislead by panchayat authorities and middlemen, who told them that they will be paid if they agreed to pose in front of the toilets, which were either not constructed under the mission or belonged to someone else. The official team recorded their statements and also took photos of the toilets under scanner.

The officials said that they will submit a report to the secretary of rural development and the director, DRDA, Hans Raj Verma, about the scam. “We inspected about 101 toilets on Tuesday alone and found several discrepancies. Several men, including a contractor identified as Ramalingam, are involved,” DRDA executive engineer Chandrashekar said.

Meanwhile, speaking to TOI, Hans Raj Verma said that he had ordered an inquiry into the issue and will comment after the officials submit the report.

Roopan Shankar Raja said that inspections will be conducted in all panchayats and criminal action will be taken against the guilty. “Several college students and NGOs were involved in geo-tagging of locations and middle-men were also involved in the scam. The photographs uploaded by the panchayat have also been studied. Many toilets we inspected were listed as defunct. But, even those cannot be claimed under SBM. We will ensure recovery of the amount and take action against guilty,” he added.