Bhubaneswar, July 1 (UDN): Odisha Vigilance has arrested two engineers of Kotagarh Block in Kandhamal district for their alleged involvement in misappropriation of over ₹42 lakh under the MGNREGA scheme.
The arrested officials have been identified as Prasanta Kumar Patra, Assistant Engineer (AE), and Prafulla Kumar Behera, Junior Engineer (JE). Both were taken into custody after detailed investigation and will be forwarded to court.
The case relates to alleged irregularities in the execution of development works under Dharakote Gram Panchayat, including Amrit Sarovar (pond) projects and allied works carried out between 2023–24 and 2025–26.
As per Vigilance findings, official records showed expenditure of ₹49.83 lakh on the projects. However, ground verification and technical assessment revealed that actual work executed was worth only about ₹7.42 lakh, indicating large-scale misappropriation of funds.
Investigators also found that mandatory geo-tagging of project sites, required under MGNREGA guidelines for transparency and monitoring, was not carried out during execution.
Vigilance officials said further investigation is underway to determine the full extent of irregularities and possible additional involvement in the case.
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