The CIAA has demanded a fine and imprisonment of Rs 690,657 against the directorate's chief Jha, planning chief Sah, and accounting officer Adhikari.
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A corruption case has been filed against nine people, including Ratna Kumar Jha, the head of the Agricultural Development Directorate of Dhanusha, on charges of irregularities in the construction of agricultural roads. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed the case in the special court on Tuesday, fixing the amount of Rs 690,657.
According to CIAA spokesperson Rajendra Koirala, along with Directorate Chief Jha, the Directorate's Agricultural Economist-Planning Chief Bikash Kumar Sah, Accounting Officer Chakra Prasad Adhikari, Ward Chairman of Mahadeva Rural Municipality-2 Jagadish Mandal, Chairman of Agricultural Road Construction Consumers' Committee Mahadeva-2 Saptari Hari Narayan Yadav, Secretary Gangaram Yadav and Treasurer Savitri Devi Yadav, Consultant of Agricultural Development Directorate Dhanusha Kiro Engineering Consultant Pvt. Ltd. and its proprietor Harish Kumar Singh have been made defendants.
CIAA has demanded a fine of Rs 690,657 against Directorate Chief Jha, Planning Chief Sah and Accounting Officer Adhikari and has demanded a fine and imprisonment as per the amount. Similarly, a separate fine has been fixed against the Ward Chairman Mandal. Separate demands have also been made against three members of the Consumers' Committee and the consultant, according to the CIAA.
A complaint was filed with the Authority for collusion in the construction of an agricultural road from Domuhan Dagar to Bhimbandh via Paschim Khando River in Mahadeva Rural Municipality-2 of Saptari under the said scheme for the fiscal year 2077/78. The Authority has filed a corruption case against those involved in the embezzlement, concluding the investigation of the same complaint.
According to the chargesheet filed by the Authority in the special court, the Directorate of Agriculture Development, Dhanusha, prepared a cost of Rs 2,352,869 from the resources received from the Government of Nepal for the construction of the agricultural road from Domuhan Dagar to Bhimbandh of Paschim Khando River. The contract agreement was signed on 18 Jestha 2078, with the Directorate working within the budget limit of Rs 1,999,929 and the Consumers Committee working within the budget limit of Rs 3,52,930 from labor donation. The contract was signed to start the work from the day the agreement was signed and to complete it on 21 Jestha, but it is alleged that irregularities were committed by not working as per the stipulated conditions.
‘According to the agreement, the work was to be completed by 31 Jestha from the date of the plan, but without the specified time, the consumer committee submitted an application for extension up to 5 Ashad and there was no decision regarding the extension of the contract period as requested as per the application, but the technician stated that the work was done as per the terms and standards of the agreement. On the basis of the measurement book, running bill, and work completion report, the Agricultural Development Directorate Dhanusha paid Rs. 18,22,601 to the consumer committee on 21 Ashad. In the on-site measurement inspection and technical report submitted by the technical team of the commission after inspecting the project, comparing the quantity of agricultural road construction work/structure in the measurement book and the quantity in the field, it was confirmed that the quantity in the field was 203.14 instead of 437.40 cubic meters in the measurement book, the difference was 234.26,’ the charge sheet filed by the authority states.
The authority has fixed the amount that would have been calculated according to the details that were changed and filed the case.
‘As it has been confirmed that the defendants, with the connivance and involvement of the defendants, have made/received excessive payments with the intention of causing illegal losses to the Directorate of Agricultural Development and providing illegal benefits to themselves and the officials of the Consumers’ Committee, and that the defendants have made/received excessive payments with the intention of making more work than the actual work, a charge sheet has been filed against the defendants involved in the said criminal act,’ the charge sheet states.
