Nabarangpur: There are allegations of misappropriation of funds by giving an old culvert a new look through cement plastering and minor repairs instead of proper reconstruction. This is happening on a broken culvert along the road leading to Deula village from near the Nabarangpur Block Adarsha School. Instead of constructing a new culvert, a few repairs have been made to make it appear new.
Since no information board has been placed near the construction work, local residents are eager to know which department is responsible for the culvert and road work. When asked, the Block Assistant Engineer suggested that it might have been undertaken by the Tribal Welfare Department. However, the Project Officer of the Tribal Welfare Department denied any involvement.
This raises the question: Who approved this developmental work? Even the junior engineers of both departments claim to have no knowledge about it. Local residents argue that if neither the departmental engineers nor the officials are aware, then the administration and government must investigate who carried out this work.
Previously, the road leading to Deula from near Nabarangpur Block Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya was a mud and murum road. In the middle of the road, an old culvert was in a broken state due to continuous vehicular movement. Instead of reconstructing it properly, a slab was placed over it with some minor repairs, giving it the appearance of a new culvert.
Residents suspect corruption, alleging that the concerned department and contractor have misused funds by conducting low-quality repairs instead of proper construction.
Since there is no information board near the site, it is unclear which authority is behind this work. The road is located between Bhatara Siuni Panchayat and Bikramapur Panchayat under Nabarangpur Block. However, Bikramapur Panchayat Executive Officer Harekrishna Bishoi denied any involvement, stating that the work was not done by the Panchayat.
Similarly, Rajiv Kumar Sahu, the ITDA (Integrated Tribal Development Agency) Project Administrator, confirmed that ITDA had not undertaken the work. Junior Engineer Tapan Singh also denied any knowledge, stating that if the work had been carried out officially, he would have been informed. He speculated that it might have been done by the block administration.
Upon questioning BDO Sunil Khara, he also denied that such work had been undertaken by the block. Assistant Engineer Surya Narayan Behera stated that no such project was approved by the block authorities.
This raises serious concerns: If neither of the two departments (Panchayat or ITDA) nor the Rural Development Division carried out the culvert construction, then who did?
With no official information board at the site, the mystery of who is behind the road and culvert construction remains unresolved.
Local residents are now demanding that the district administration investigate this work, bring those responsible to light, and take necessary action against the misuse of public funds.