Erring officials to face action soon

COIMBATORE: Madhapur has blown a hole in the Swachh Bharat claims of the Tamil Nadu government as the toilet scam unravels in the district. District collector T N Hariharan held a meeting with the

District Rural Development Agency

(DRDA) and panchayat officials on Wednesday. He said he will initiate action against the erring officials.

“We visited all the toilets built under the scheme and clicked photographs on Wednesday. We also checked the beneficiary lists and cross-checked the data. We found some discrepancies in funding for construction of 10 toilets under the Swachh Bharat mission. Under the MGNREGA scheme, nearly 30 toilets that were claimed were old toilets. These 30 toilets were constructed by residents several years ago and we will ensure that the money is recovered,” said

Roopan Shankar Raj

, project director, DRDA.

Senior officials of the department said they will initiate action against the over-seer (in charge of project implementation at the village level) and the block coordinator. “They will be suspended,” said a senior official. Apart from them, the engineers, block development officer and panchayat secretary will also be penalized under 17B of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services, Discipline and Appeal Rules, for incurring financial losses to the government and the money will be recovered from them.

State

officials in charge of the SBM said that earlier, when MGNREGA scheme was implemented, several discrepancies were brought out. “Under SBM, it is completely online. It is at the implementation level that these problems arise. If inspections are carried out, such issues will be avoided in the future,” said the official. The officials added that if this scam was not brought out, payments would have been made for 48 toilet claims. “These 48 toilets were constructed several years ago but were repainted and fake beneficiaries were posing. So, we will ensure that they will not be paid,” said an official.