Money for roads siphoned

Behrampore, Aug. 7: The Murshidabad administration today lodged an FIR against 10 panchayat leaders, engineers, employees and contractors accusing them of defalcating funds meant for road construction at Lalgola, 250 km from Calcutta.

A contractor has been arrested. District magistrate N. Manjunatha Prasad said Rs 10 lakh meant for construction of two roads under a central scheme was siphoned off by the accused ? three panchayat samiti members, a village panchayat member, two subassistant engineers of the samiti, two employees and two contractors. Prasad said not an inch of work was done.

Sikdar salve

Calcutta: BJP general secretary, Rajnath Singh, who oversees the Bengal unit, said on Sunday that he would take up former Union minister Tapan Sikdar’s suspension with party chief L.K. Advani. Sikdar, charged with anti-party activities, was suspended last month. Singh, on a two-day visit to assess the party’s preparations for the Assembly polls, gave a hearing to Sikdar when the latter called on him on Saturday.

Asim aid

Calcutta: Finance minister Asim Dasgupta visited Bongaon, North 24-Parganas, on Sunday to provide financial aid to the twins who had secured identical marks in this year’s Madhyamik. The minister, himself a twin who scored the same as his brother in an equivalent exam, met Rajat and Rakesh Sarkar, who secured 544 each.

Priest missing

Burdwan: William Kauri, a 52-year-old priest, is missing since Saturday afternoon. The secretary of the managing committee of a church on GT Road near Burdwan town, lodged a missing diary at the Burdwan police station on Sunday. Kauri, from Talcher in Orissa, lived with wife Malina in a rented house in the town. Malina said he left home around 5 pm on Saturday in search of a better house, but did not return.

SDO charge

Calcutta: The Diamond Harbour subdivisional officer has lodged an FIR against a tax collector appointed by the CPM-controlled Krishna Chandrapur village panchayat alleging defalcation of funds. The SDO said that Lalmohan Naiya has not been depositing the money for over six months.