Mrunal Manmay Dash

Berhampur: Allegations of widespread corruption in Regulated Market Committee (RMC) has shaken the residents of Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district. While people alleged that both the accountant and the Ex-Secretary of the RMC were hand in gloves in the misdeed, the suspension of only the accountant has irked the locals.

As per the allegation, the accountant, Bipra Charan Gouda along with the then Secretary had embezzled tax payer’s money from 13 check gates under the RMC. The report came to the fore following an official audit of the committee.

Delving deeper into the allegations, OTV got hold of two money receipts with the same serial number and details of the violator, but surprisingly with two different amounts. While one receipt mentioned Rs 29,500 as the challan amount, the other receipt with the same serial number mentions Rs 4,500 on it. Evidently, the first challan was the actual challan received and the latter with lesser challan amount was the one deposited in the treasury.

Nilakantha Swain, an RMC employee said, “We didn’t know about this kind of corruption in our office. We learnt about this only after the audit was conducted.”

While auditing, the Odisha State Agriculture Marketing Board (OSAMB) in Bhubaneswar found many such discrepancies in challans and started the process of recovering the lost money from the gate men operating the check gates under Bhanjanagar RMC jurisdiction triggering widespread resentment from the gate men.

The gate guards alleged that they were being used as scape goats to shield the higher ups from the corruption taint. The RMC is reportedly serving them notices in a bid to recover the lost money. The situation is so drastic that the family of a dead gate guard, Prabina Kumar Pradhan was also served a recovery notice amounting to Rs 3.58 lakh. His father however, refuted the allegations and said that it’s the accountant who has misappropriated money and not his son.

Prabina’s father Kunjabihari Pradhan said, “My son was innocent and it was Gouda who took away all the money. Where would I get this money to deposit in the RMC? It’s utter injustice.”

Similarly, Prafulla Kumar Swain, another gate guard who was served a notice said, “Whatever money I had recovered from the check gates, I have deposited with the RMC. This notice says I have to deposit another Rs 1.7 lakh in the office. The amount should be recovered from the officers who actually embezzled it, not me.”

The irony is the main accused as alleged by locals and gate guards, the Ex-Secretary was not only acquitted of his corruption charges, he was in fact awarded with a promotion by the administration.

Meanwhile, Vijay Amrut Kulange, Ganjam Collector has assured, “I will go through all the allegations and counter allegations and take appropriate action.”

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