An aerial view of the 2008 Kosi floods. Telegraph picture

Bhagalpur, Nov. 9: The reply to a complaint filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has brought to light misappropriation of government funds meant for compensation to victims of the 2008 Kosi floods in Kumarkhand block of Madhepura district.

Deep Narayan Yadav, a retired army personnel living in Jaduapatti village under Kumarkhand block, had lodged a complaint under the RTI Act, questioning utilisation of government funds for the compensation to the flood victims.

The Kumarkhand circle office has in its reply to the petition mentioned that under the scheme (compensation for loss of land by flood), Rs 6,70,76,949 had been distributed among villagers in different mouzas of Kumarkhand. The total allotment was Rs 12,42,26,000. It also revealed that the rest of the amount, Rs 5,71,49,051, had been returned to the state crisis management department.

Following irregularities in compensation for loss of crop and anomaly in records of distributing compensation in the circle office, large-scale misappropriation of funds has been detected at Belasati mouza (revenue village) under the block related to compensation for loss of land during the 2008 floods.

Several outsiders were allegedly made beneficiaries after they claimed to have lost land in the deluge despite owning no plot in Belasati.

According to sources, 203 farmers at Belasati received a compensation of Rs 14,29,935 for loss of land. After the RTI complaint was filed, antecedents of over a dozen were verified and it was found that they were neither residents of Belasati nor did they own any agricultural land in the village.

Though Madhepura district magistrate N. Alam was not available for comment, a senior district official, on condition of anonymity, said there might have been hundreds of cases related to irregularities while distributing relief during the 2008 floods.

“We filed an FIR against the former Kumarkhand block development officers and six other block-level employees recently for allegedly indulging in irregularities. We are trying to expose such cases,” the official added.

Spat between BDOs

Ramadhar Prasad, block development officer of Pattarghat in Saharsa district, yesterday lodged an FIR with Sourbazar police station against his predecessor, Gulam Sorbar Ansari, for alleged embezzlement of government funds and indulging in gross irregularities in rural development work.

Ansari, who is at present posted as BDO of Maheshi in East Champaran district, was accused of misappropriating about Rs 65 lakh from the backward region grants fund (BRGF) in the 2010-11 financial year.

Besides Ansari, 30 other government employees in the block, including then head clerk Balram Paswan, in-charge of BRGF K.P. Yadav and then nazir Rajesh Kumar Verma, were made co-accused in the case.

The FIR was lodged on the basis of an order by Saharsa district magistrate Dev Raj Dev. It was recommended by Saharsa deputy development commissioner Jayant Kumar Singh, who had earlier conducted an inquiry in the case.

In his report, Singh mentioned that the district planning committee had received a proposal from the Pattarghat panchayat samity for constructing 25 latrines with the BRGF grant in the 2010-11 fiscal.

The estimated cost of construction was almost Rs 9 lakh. However, Ansari allegedly violated the norms and sanctioned Rs 5,05,54,000 for construction of 891 latrines under 448 schemes on record. He even allotted Rs 65,65,127 from the amount and distributed it among the agents.