ELURU: Quick on the heels of sending AP Town and Country Planning director behind bars for accepting bribes to the tune of Rs 500 crore, officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday cracked the whip on employees of the Polavaram Mandal Tehsildar’s Office for alleged misappropriation of funds allotted for the relief and rehabilitation (R&R) of those displaced by the irrigation project in the region.
A team led by deputy superintendent of police P Gopalakrishna, inspectors U J Wilson and Srinivas went through the Mandal Tehsildar’s files relating to the shifting of Polavaram project oustees.
The ACB received intel inputs indicating that certain staffers of the Tehsildar’s office, including Tehsildar Merugu Mukkanti, had swindled `80 lakh by showing the amount as the expenditure incurred in rehabilitating the displaced.Sleuths have taken down the registration numbers and enquired about the details of the vehicles said to have been used for shifting the displaced.
When the vehicles’ owners were contacted, they denied having anything to do with the rehabilitation work. DSP Gopalakrishna said the Mandal Tehsildar had signed and submitted the expenditure bills to the district Collector.In his submission, the Mandal Tehsildar stated that the displaced had been moved in tractors and mini lorries to their allotted villages. The Collector approved the bills unaware of what happened at the ground level as the Jangareddigudem RDO had cleared the expenditure file.
The DSP said ACB officials would question the displaced. “We have to question many people to know what really happened. We suspect many more people are involved in the swindling of funds. The estimated figure is likely to increase,” he said, adding that some key documents and files had been seized.