Keonjhar/Hatadihi: Another instance of alleged irregularities has surfaced in Keonjhar District Mineral Foundation (DMF) as records show that the DMF office rooms were renovated twice at a cost of Rs 37,53,951 within just three months, while another Rs 4,30,285 was spent on interior decoration of the hall.
Large sums from the DMF contingency fund have also been used for repairs, decorations and furniture purchases, raising questions about misuse of funds.
Former legislator Subarna Naik, engineer Binod Bihari Nayak, Pradyumna Das, Ashok Jena and Kishore Sethi have demanded an impartial probe and strict action against the persons responsible for fund misuse. The DMF office operates from the first floor of the three-story Keonjhar Zilla Parishad office (DRDA), comprising four rooms.
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According to the case (Record No. 66/2024), the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division was paid Rs 19,99,457 October 20, 2020 and Rs 17,54,494 May 2, 2021 for renovation of DMF office rooms.
Earlier, Keonjhar Sadar BDO had received Rs 4,95,489 for similar renovation work August 9, 2018. For interior decoration of the DMF hall, the BDO was also paid Rs 2,44,400 November 22, 2017, and Rs 1,85,885 February 23, 2018. The BDO was paid Rs 4,67,632 for furniture for the DMF office October 3, 2018. Additional expenses of several lakhs were also incurred from the contingency fund for the purchase of electrical appliances, equipment and other materials for the office.
Allegations have surfaced that such expenditures were shown on paper to misappropriate DMF funds.
A complaint regarding this was filed August 20 with the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, state Finance department, Planning and Convergence department, and Keonjhar Collector’s office.
The complaint also noted that proper records, documents and related papers of these expenditures were missing from the DMF office, and it called for an investigation and action.
PNN