Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil has said the department is expected to obtain a second interim report within a week on the illegal parking of department funds in various banks by some officials.
The department has taken adequate measures to safeguard the money in these illegal accounts. “We have not allowed the money to be diverted,” he told presspersons here on Tuesday. Already, one official has been suspended.
So far, Rs. 525 crore was found to be diverted into illegal accounts in Andhra Bank and Dena Bank. However, the State government is yet to ascertain the exact dimension of the alleged scam as the probe is still on.
A committee under Punati Sridhar, Executive Director of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy and Development, has been investigating into the alleged scam. “The second report is expected to give more details on the magnitude of the alleged scam,” Mr. Patil said.
He said all gram panchayats have been asked to prepare a plan according to their local needs by October 2. The task force, headed by Mr. Patil, deliberated on the issue of preparing plans from bottom to top.
A three-day training programme for the newly-elected GP members would be taken up soon and the entire process to train over 95,000 members would be completed within six months, Mr. Patil said.
Department has taken adequate measures to safeguard money in illegal accounts
H.K. Patil,Rural Development and
Panchayat Raj Minister
