Rs 83cr given to village panchayats in Rampur unaccounted for

A sum of Rs 83 crore allotted to the village panchayats here in 2017-17 for implementation of MGNREGS and sanitation programmes, and construction of roads is unaccounted for, recent audits have shown.
The suspected case of corruption came to light when District Panchayat Raj Officer (DPRO) Sharan Jeet Kaur served notices on the erring village panchayats, sources said.
District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur, who took charge just a few days back, told PTI today that he had taken notice of the issue and asked the departments concerned to clarify soon so that action could be initiated.
According to official reports, the district consists of 684 village panchayats, which is managed by 115 village panchayat officers, but the DPRO said the records of developmental works were with the village bodies.

The DPRO said all the village panchayat officers of the Panchayat Raj Department were transferred, but none of them submitted records of expenditure of the allotted money although auditors have kept asking for the same.
Official sources have revealed that during 2014 and 2015 alleged bungling of Rs 12 crore was detected involving 86 village panchayats.