Ooty BDO gobbles up Rs 29L Swachh subsidy to villagers

According to DVAC documents the accused, M Nagarajan, BDO, panchayat union office, Udhagamadalam and P Appadurai, overseer, allegedly created fake documents to show that subsidies were indeed passed on to the villagers.

Nagarajan was the leader of a team of development workers in the block and he, under the Swachh Bharat Mission, was entrusted with the quality of work and the payment of incentives to beneficiaries. Appadurai has to prepare estimates, visit the sites to ensure the quality of work carried out and report to the BDO.

In 2018-19, administrative sanction was accorded for construction of individual household latrines under the scheme to beneficiaries from villages like Thuneri, Ebbanadu, Kookalthorai and Nanjanaad in Nilgiris district, at Rs 12,000 per beneficiary.

The two accused officials allegedly entered into a conspiracy for misappropriation of government funds by preparing false documents and by making false entries in the registers maintained in the panchayat.

According to the DVAC document, the BDO had been transferring the funds, as if to the beneficiaries, to a bank account belonging to one Prabhakaran and the money was later collected from him. The DVAC has now registered a case under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, besides criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating.