Karnataka's Panchayat Raj minister unearths illegalities

H K Patil vows to launch drive to bring level of 'financial indiscipline' in the dept down to zero

Stunned by revelations about huge misappropriation of funds and irregularities in his department, Karnataka minister for rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) H K Patil has vowed to launch a drive to bring down to zero the level of ‘financial indiscipline’ in the department.

Patil told reporters in Hubballi on Friday that investigations into the case of ‘parking’ of unaccounted government funds in banks had revealed that two more such accounts with funds to the tune of Rs 97 crore are in existence.

The preliminary inquiry revealed that two accounts, one each in Syndicate Bank and Corporation Bank existed. While the account in Corporation Bank had Rs 31 crore, the account in Syndicate Bank had Rs 66 crore, Patil informed.

It may be recalled that the minister, acting on a tip-off had unearthed a case of parking of unaccounted money to the tune of Rs 134 crore in an account in Andhra Bank. Deputy secretary Rural Water Supply Ramakrishna, accused of parking the government funds illegally has been placed under suspension. The investigation has been handed over to the Lokayukta.

Patil said that a four-member committee had been constituted to inquire into such cases in the RDPR departments and constituent government agencies.

Executive Director of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy and Development Ponnati Sridhar, Internal Auditor of RDPR Mahadev, Director of Quality Monitoring, RDPR Anwar Pasha and Tutor (Finance) of Abdul Nazeer Ahmed State Rural Development Institute Khan Parvez have been named as the committee members. “The committee has been asked to submit the report within a month,” Patil said.

The minister had also taken steps to find out the possibility of funds being parked in other banks too. The investigation has revealed existence of two more accounts with a total of Rs 97 crore deposited in them.  Minister Patil did not deny the possibility of more such accounts existing. He promised to continue the investigations aggressively.

“The parking of government funds meant for public use, in banks, has violated canons of financial propriety. The funds have been parked for last four to five years and the practice has gone unchecked, which needs to be curbed,” Patil said.