Irrigation dept engineers siphon off funds,face action

According to the release,the state government had asked the Technical Audit Cells of the Irrigation Department to conduct an inquiry and review of all tubewell divisions across the state.

During inquiry,financial irregularities were found in construction and development works in 12 divisions — Jaunpur,Jhansi,Mirzapur,Varanasi,Deoria,Etawah,Rae Bareli,Fatehpur,Chandauli,Mainpuri,Saharanpur and Badaun.

The minister said the anomalies found in these divisions included misuse of government fund,irregular payments,agreement with contractors before opening of bids,diversion of funds and payment for maintenance by showing fake progress reports. In Deoria,Rs 33 lakh were withdrawn in financial year 2008-09,of which,Rs 10.18 lakh were withdrawn in March 2009. According to the accounts Rs 2.40 lakh were spent on the maintenance of tube-wells but the inquiry showed they were not operated at all.

In Chandauli,Rs 87,400 were paid for upgrading PVC pipelines but no work had been done at site.