MLA alleges misuse of District Mineral Fund in Sundargarh, Odisha

ROURKELA: The state government has admitted that a whopping Rs 50.54 crore was spent on construction of a 5 km stretch of road in Sundargarh town with funds from the District Mineral Fund (DMF).

Replying to a question by Sundargarh MLA Jogesh Singh in the Assembly, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on August 22 had said as per information received from the DMF, Sundargarh, a road was constructed from the Government College to Sankara for Rs 50.54 crore.

The chief minister said the DMF had agreed with NBCC (India) Ltd, a Central PSU for the construction of the road. He clarified no report of inferior quality of work has come to the notice of the government.

However, Singh said the government should conduct a credible inquiry to ascertain if the same work would have cost half the amount if it had been undertaken by the Works department.

The legislator said a concrete four-lane project of the 5.45 km road called Sankara bypass from Parijat Park via Government College to Sankara on the outskirts of Sundargarh town was taken up from February 2020 for exclusive movement of coal-laden heavy vehicles from the mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in Hemgir block without entering the town.