Former Madurai district library officer booked for misappropriation of funds

MADURAI: Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) booked a former district library officer and for misappropriation Rs 14.71 lakh government fund allotted for maintenance of library buildings.
According to the FIR, the misappropriation of the fund took taken place in 2014-15 and 2015-16 financial years.
Rs 25.20 lakh and Rs 41.16 lakh were released for the two years, respectively, to carry out repairs and maintenance work in libraries throughout the district.
Inspector of DVAC, Madurai K Kumaraguru registered a first information report last week after a detailed inquiry.
While C R Raveendran, the former district library officer (in-charge), died, inquiry was underway with the private contractor identified as A Ramalingam of Ayyampalayam in Dindigul district.
Officials said 99 repair and maintenance projects were carried out in the two financial years at the total cost of Rs 66.36 lakh. The work ought to have commenced after getting an estimate abstract from PWD executive engineer. The duo had obtained the estimates from assistant engineers. Ramalingam worked as a technical assistant with PWD in 2008 and used his influence to get the estimates from engineering officials in Dindigul district.
A district library officer is empowered to spend below Rs 20, 000 to each library building. The duo colluded to split work and overspent the government fund. Most of the work carried out using the amount were substandard work, which got exposed through an evaluation report obtained from competition authorities.
They were booked under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.