Bhubaneswar, Jun 25 (PTI) An inquiry was started by the Vigilance Department of the Odisha government into the allegations of misappropriation of public funds in the installation of LED street lights in panchayats across Kendujhar, Nayagarh and Jajpur districts, a statement said.
The inquiry relates to LED street-lighting works undertaken during 2021-22 and 2022-23 under the previous BJD government, it said.
The Vigilance Department has deployed 24 teams comprising 81 officers, including additional superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police and inspectors, for the probe. Twenty-seven officers have been assigned to each of the three districts.
The project, titled ‘Implementation of LED street lighting system in one village of each GP on a turnkey basis, including Comprehensive Annual Maintenance Contract (CAMC)’, was funded through the State Finance Commission devolution grants under the fifth SFC, officials said.
During the preliminary inquiry, Vigilance found alleged large-scale irregularities and violations of tender guidelines. Key components, including energy meters, 500-metre cables, MCCBs, eye hooks, suspension clamps, dead-end clamps and photo-switch timers, were not installed in several cases despite bills being raised showing their installation, the statement said.
The missing components were meant to be provided for each cluster of 10 LED lights, it said.
The Vigilance Department alleged that the bills were drawn fraudulently and that government funds were misappropriated by the executing agencies.
Field-level technical inspections are being conducted at 50 locations across the three districts to assess the extent of the alleged financial irregularities and determine the role of government officials and executing agencies in the project, officials said. PTI AAM AAM SOM
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