- विज्ञापन -
Ludhiana:
Punjab Rural Development and Panchayats department has suspended Block Development and Panchayat Officer as well as Senior Executive Panchayat Officers in Rs 120.87 crore award money scam.
As per the orders issued by the department, BDPO Rupinderjit Kaur, who was then deputed at Ludhiana Block-2, Simrat Kaur and Gurpreet Singh Mangat has been suspended from government services on immediate basis and they will have to report at Headquarter, District Development and Panchayat Officer, Ludhiana during the period of suspension.
The suspension orders came two years after the former Punjab rural development and panchayat minister Laljit Singh Bhullar had ordered the officials to immediately chargesheet around dozen of officials of the department along with six sarpanches.
The scam had come to light in 2023 when Bhullar had disclosed panchayats of Salempur, Sekhewal, Selkiana, Bounkar Gujran, Kadiana Khurd and Dhanansu villages of Block Ludhiana-2, received an award of Rs 252.94 crore between 2016-17 and 2020-21 after the acquisition of hundreds of acres of land, but Rs 120.87 crore were withdrawn from this amount with the alleged connivance of some officers and employees of the department along active involvement of sarpanches.
Bhullar had informed that a total of 299 acres of land in Dhanansu village was acquired and the panchayat received Rs 104.54 crore as award money of which Rs 61.23 crore was spent without departmental approval.
Similarly, Sekhewal Panchayat had spent Rs 29.50 crore out of the total Rs 64.82 crore received as award money for the acquired 81 acres of land and village Salempur received Rs 5.63 crore for 86 acres of land acquired, of which Rs 1.53 crore was spent.
Similarly, embezzlement was found in other mentioned villages as well.
