3 days ago
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Lokayukta officers person booked cases against immoderate officers of the Karnataka Slum Development Board and a backstage contractor charging them with fiscal misconduct and misappropriation.
Investigators carried retired raids connected the offices and homes of immoderate officers and a contractor successful Belagavi, Hubballi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura and Bengaluru connected Tuesday and recovered immoderate documents.
Officers accidental that the irregularities are to the tune of ₹23 crore.
The enactment follows a ailment that officials colluded with the contractor to wide fake bills successful the Karnataka Slum Development Board nether the Sarvarige Sooru (Housing for All) Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) 2022 successful Ramdurg municipality of Belagavi district.
The accused see retired adjunct enforcement technologist Shambulingappa B.S., contractor Prasad N.P. of National Projects Construction Corporation, Girimallappa Jogur, Kiran Hosakoti and Rindanagouda Shekargouda Patil successful Vijayapura. Other officials related to the strategy person besides been named.
Teams carried retired inspections astatine the KSDB bureau successful Hindalga successful Belagavi, the residence of retired adjunct enforcement technologist Shambulingappa B.S. successful Hubballi, National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC) bureau successful Bengaluru and the houses of different accused persons successful Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts.
Further probe is on.
According to preliminary investigation, officials and the contractor fudged documents to physique a record with fake enactment bills for houses though, the houses were not built.
They were meant for beneficiaries successful notified slum areas nether the Sarvarige Sooru Scheme. These bills were cleared and payments were released.
The contractor bypassed rules to make mendacious records of proviso worldly and of respective stages of construction. A portion outgo was made to beneficiaries but, a ample magnitude was misappropriated.
Investigators accidental that determination person been respective procedural lapses, including the nonaccomplishment to behaviour due tract inspections, not utilising GPS-based photographic grounds of completion of enactment and autarkic verification. However, the works were shown arsenic completed and billing done.
An authoritative merchandise said that 13 partial bills were submitted betwixt March 29, 2019 and June 12, 2023. Based connected these bills, ₹29.4 crore was released betwixt April 2019 and November 2024.
Material worthy ₹6.1 crore were supplied to astir 600 beneficiaries, portion the remaining ₹23.3 crore is suspected to person been misappropriated, said the release.
