Cleared projects ‘missing’ on the ground, 12 booked

Vadodara: As many as 19 development works done in the Nadisar village of Godhra taluka of Panchmahal district are ‘missing’ on the ground. The works were allegedly completed on paper but never executed in reality.
Godhra taluka development officer (TDO) Dharmishtha Gavit registered an offence over embezzlement of funds by allegedly conducting works only on records and making payments amounting to Rs 48,19,661 for them. The works were conducted between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2020 in the Nadisar village.

The offence registered at the Kakanpur police station names two former sarpanches, three former talati-cum-secretaries of the panchayat, four former additional assistant engineers, one former deputy executive engineer, and one former in-charge deputy executive engineer as accused in the case.
The district development officer (DDO) had ordered a probe into the works after a representation by the deputy speaker of the Gujarat assembly, Jetha Ahir. A committee was formed under the leadership of the deputy DDO for the probe.
Investigations into 33 works done with the grants from the 14th and 15th finance commission revealed that 19 of these works were never executed but payments were made. The remaining works that were on site were in a bad shape and seemed very old. There were signages to ascertain the scheme under which the works were done and other details.
According to the offence registered by the TDO, the work register and the stock register regarding the development works were not maintained. It also came to light that payments were not done using account payee cheques and these were done with self-cheques or those in the name of the sarpanch. By rules, any payment above Rs 1,500 should have been made using account payee cheques.