Assistant Project Director and three others arrested for embezzling NREGA funds

Odisha : The Odisha Vigilance on Thursday arrested Assistant Project Director of the Office of Rayagada Project Director Watershed and three other officials for alleged embezzlement of government funds under NREGA. The accused persons include Rajendra Nath Naik, Assistant Project Director-cum-Project Implementation Agency (APD-cum-PIA) (Class-1), Jogendra Khosla, Soil Conservation Supervisor; Deepak Kumar Sahu, Soil Conservation Supervisor and Srikumar Nayak, Soil Conservation Extension Worker. During verification by Odisha Vigilance on allegations of misappropriation of government funds without digging of farm ponds under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Kashipur block of Rayagada district, four officials were found to have embezzled government funds of over Rs 20 lakh without digging 23 farm ponds in different villages of the tribal district. The accused officials withdrew the above amount by crediting it into the accounts of job card holder labourers. The vigilance team is investigating the transactions as well as the implementation of the farm pond digging project. In this regard, a case has been registered against all the accused in Koraput Vigilance Police Station.