Salaries of 19 COs withheld in Nalanda

BIHARSHARIF: Nalanda additional district magistrate Naushad Alam on Friday withheld salaries of 19 of 20 circle officers (COs) in the district till further orders for not initiating the process of identifying the water bodies grabbed by unauthorised people and removing encroachments from there.
Asthawan CO Sunil Kumar was found to be the only official to obey the order passed by the district administration a few days ago.
Nalanda DM Yogendra Kumar Singh said on Saturday that the erring officials would face more action if they failed to identify the water bodies illegally grabbed by people by December 5. Encroachments on water bodies, according to the DM, create obstacles to free flow of water meant for irrigation purposes.
All the SDPOs and other police officers have been asked to coordinate with respective circle officers in freeing such land from encroachments by December 15.
While reviewing implementation of various schemes on Saturday, the DM said the government would soon fix a date for planting Rs 2.51 crore saplings across the state. He asked the officials concerned to earmark land for the purpose.