DHBVN officials, pvt firm booked for embezzling Rs 14cr

Hisar: Officials of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) and a private firm have been booked for embezzling funds totalling Rs 14.6 crore that were to be spent on strengthening the electricity supply in the rural and urban areas under Union government’s two schemes.

In the preliminary investigation by the DHBVN, it has been found that around Rs 8.83 crore were misappropriated under the Centre’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), designed for electrification of rural areas. Further, Rs 5.76 crore were embezzled under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for augmenting power supply to urban areas.

On the complaint of DHBVN officials, Hisar police have registered two FIRs pertaining to embezzlement in both schemes. Hisar police spokesman Harish Bhardwaj said two cases had been registered for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) against unknown officers and employees of DHBVN and a local firm Duhan Electrical Works Private Limited based in Shanti Vihar here.

According to DHBVN sources, to strengthen the power supply in urban areas under IPDS, Duhan Electricals had got the tender for Adampur and Narnaund towns of Hisar district and Ratia and Bhuna towns of Fatehabad district on March 31, 2017. The firm had also bagged the contract under the DDUGJY on January 31, 2017. The DHBVN probe found that several joint verification reports (JVR) for the material used for strengthening the power supply were prepared, but less work was done by the firm, which got more money than the actual expenses, causing financial loss to the discom.

In the preliminary inquiry, Nitesh Kumar, a site engineer of the monitoring agency ERDA, stated someone had faked his signatures on the JVR from December 19 to 28, 2017, causing a financial loss of Rs 5.76 crore to the DHBVN.