View of Kendrapara town. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, July 7: The Kendrapara Municipality has come under scanner for misusing funds. A special audit squad has come across discrepancies and a series of financial irregularities with regard to utilisation of government funds and grants.

The audit team found that Rs 4.39 crore was spent during 2009-10 for developmental projects by the Kendrapara Municipality by bending rules, violating procedural norms and mandatory provisions for civil construction projects.

Both central and state government grants were found to misutilised by the civic body. Administrative inquiries had been conducted into the matter but for some strange reason, the inquiry reports were not made public.

“The state of affairs in the municipality, which is state’s oldest civic body, has left much to be desired. While the civic amenities and basic needs of urban life have gone from bad to worse, the urban local body is wading through neck-deep corruption and funds embezzlement,” said former chairman of Kendrapara Municipality, Bijoy Krushna Sahu.

The audit team detected the faulty mode of expenditure and suggested the recovery of nearly Rs 24 lakh from the officials, who had executed the projects.

The audit team raised an objection on Rs 36 lakh fund, earmarked for urban development projects, lying unused in nationalised banks.

The mandatory procedure for utilisation of grants were also violated. Funds were used without the approval of the district collector.

“The contractors who executed the works, were found not to have completed it within the stipulated time frame. As a result, the civic body had to sustain a financial loss of nearly Rs 20 lakh. The civic body did not even realise earnest money deposits while awarding the job to the contractors for housing project in slum clusters in the township. Funds to the tune of Rs 1.76 crore were unlawfully spent as no tender bids were invited for executing works worth over Rs 50,000. The special relief commissioner’s grants sanctioned to the municipality in the aftermath of 2008 flood for reconstruction of roads, sewerage and educational institutions, were not judiciously utilised as these were done without the approval of the donor agency,” the special audit report stated.

The audit squad also came across a series of irregularities in execution of installation of high power lights on the Baldevjew temple premises, implementation of privatisation of sanitation measures and non-collection of value added tax from those who executed the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Fund projects within the municipality areas.

Contacted, Kendrapara collector Pradipta Pattnaik said: “The administration would take up the matter with the state urban development department for a probe into the irregularities detected by the special audit squad.”

In the past, the council members, including the ruling BJD, had voiced their protest against the alleged lapses and irregularities.