The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department has suspended nine officials, including four engineers, in connection with the alleged scam related to setting up of water-testing laboratories and purchase of water-testing equipments. The department has also recommended suspension of a chief engineer and initiating disciplinary action against two more chief engineers.
The suspended officials are Assistant Executive Engineer V. Raju and R.C. Patil; Assistant Engineers Srikant and Gururaja; Accounts superintendent Nageshwar Rao; Second division Accounts Assistants Ramesh, Hanumamurthy, Kausar Parween and Natesh.
The RDPR has also recommended the suspension of former chief engineer of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation wing Mruthyunjayaswamy besides seeking initiating of disciplinary action against Chief Engineers J. P. Reddy and R.P. Kulkarni, who gave clearance for the tender process.
The department has directed the authorities concerned to get legal opinion within a week on whether it is possible to cancel the tender process for setting up 80 water-testing labs in the wake of violation of rules.
