Special class contractor arrested for misappropriating govt funds in Odisha
Bijay Kumar Agrawal and Deepak Kumar Agrawal were detained by Odisha Vigilance on Monday for allegedly misusing public funds to build four hostels with 100 seats for SC students in the Sonepur district under the direction of the ST & SC Development Department.
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Bhubaneswar: Bijay Kumar Agrawal and Deepak Kumar Agrawal were detained by Odisha Vigilance on Monday for allegedly misusing public funds to build four hostels with 100 seats for SC students in the Sonepur district under the direction of the ST & SC Development Department.
Since the start of the investigation, the pair had vanished from their Balangir home. They were captured by an Odisha Vigilance team traveling from Rourkela, and they are currently being examined at the Vigilance Cell Division Office in Cuttack, according to a press statement.
According to a Vigilance release, the ST & SC Development Department had signed an MoU, entrusting construction of the hostel buildings in KBK districts to Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd.(HSCL). These included 26 120-seated ST Hostels in Rayagada district, 12 100-seated SC Hostels in Balangir (8) and Sonepur (4) districts and 3 upgraded HS at Gouramunda, Raska and Bijadore, at an estimated cost of Rs 43,93,68,937. The HSCL then floated tenders for the projects and entered into an agreement with Agrawal for construction of 12 hostel buildings at a cost of Rs 8,12,30,877, including 4 in Sonepur district at Rs 2,71,24,207.
Based on reliable inputs about misappropriation of funds and substandard work in construction of the hostels in Balangir and Sonepur districts in 2019-20, technical inspection of all 4 buildings was conducted by Vigilance Technical Wing of Odisha Vigilance. “During preliminary surface technical evaluation, large-scale cracks, seepages, low width of roof plaster, use of poor quality wood materials against prescribed sal wood, use of non standard low-quality electrical and sanitary fittings instead of prescribed branded products, and many other defects/deviations were detected, resulting in huge loss to the state exchequer,” it further said.
The projects were executed by Agrawal and his associate in alleged collusion with the officials of Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd (HSCL) and other officials.
In recent weeks the SC, ST development department has detected 40 hostels which can be made functional, official sources informed, adding, 28 of these have already been made operational. In Raygada and Keonjhar districts cases also have been lodged against HSCL for not completing hostels.
