Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (HB)

Udupi, May 7: People of Kadekar village alleged that the panchayat had misused the grants approved by the government for road margin work under the Action Plan. The construction work was very poor in condition.

The villagers of two wards had brought this to the notice of nodal officer Ravi Kumar in the village panchayat meeting held on September 30, last year. Soon after this, Kumar was arrested for corruption.

On Wednesday May 6, they submitted a copy of a complaint to the DySP and Karnataka Lokayukta to take stern action against the corruption and to reveal the truth behind this.

Ranjan R Kundar said that the first construction work on the embankment was done at Rs 65,000. Locals have complained to the CEO but there has been no positive response from them. The second round of work was done with the sanctioned amount of Rs 68,000 and a protest was staged against Kadekar village panchayat about violation of panchayat administration policy.

Adding to this, the two road concrete work was steeped in corruption and the members have made defects that overlap the first mistakes. There was no such development work as mentioned in the proposals. Not only that, they have done things as per their wish instead of considering public demand.

Work amounting to Rs 2.82 lac has been done as fast as possible. The public alleged that they have looted public assets by constructing narrow, congested, and unscientific roads. The officers have changed all construction plans as per their convenience under the 2014–15 Action Plan. The public alleged that panchayat president Saraswati, vice-president Monappa Kotian, and other Udupi taluk panchayat officers were involved in this scandal.

Kadekar villagers demanded justice and a detailed investigation into the shoddy work as well as the respective officers because they have misused their power, spoilt evidences, and looted public assets.