The Uttarakhand High Court today took a stern view of alleged misappropriation of funds allocated for toilet construction for BPL families in Dehradun district under the Swachh Bharat Mission and asked the state government to act against all offenders within a week after conducting departmental enquiries.
Citing a report submitted by a tehsildar, highlighting the alleged misappropriation of funds meant specifically for construction of toilets under the project, a division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Lokpal Singh directed the chief secretary of the state to take action on it within a week.
The senior superintendent of police, Dehradun was also directed by the court to register an FIR against those who had allegedly misappropriated the public funds.
Observing that the project was being implemented in a shoddy manner, the court said only a few toilets were built and that money was also released in favour of dead persons.
On complaints by villagers to the district magistrate that the amount released or sanctioned under the project was being misutilised by the authorities, the matter was inquired into by the Vikas Nagar tehsildar, the court said.
The tehsildar had submitted a very comprehensive report on the matter, the court said and asked the chief secretary to act on it within a week.
The objective of the project is to construct toilets for individual households and persons living Below Poverty Line (BPL).
An incentive of Rs 12,000 is given for the construction of one unit. The money is contributed by the Centre and the state government in the ratio of 75:25.
The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in every district of the state. The project manager, after checking the authenticity of the BPL card-holders and taking into account the construction work carried out by them, sanctions the money, which is then transferred to the account of the gram panchayats.
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