Bhubaneswar: A scam of money bungling in the construction of toilets in government-run primary schools has surfaced at a time when chief minister Naveen Patnaik talks of transparency and corruption-free governance.

The corporate funding for school toilets has been largely been siphoned off in as many as 14 districts with the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority ordering a probe into the alleged irregularities.

As a part of its corporate social responsibility programme, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) had funded grants build school toilets. But, they later found large-scale embezzlement of the grants during an on-the-spot inquiry by the company personnel.

The company had sanctioned funds for construction of 4,472 school toilet buildings in Angul, Balangir, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Khurda, Nayagarh, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sonepur districts.

It had placed the funds with the authority, which later transferred it to concerned districts for its execution by the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan authorities.

"It needs no sting operation to detect the fund bungling. In majority places, the funds were entirely embezzled with authorities showing it on record the old toilets as newly built. At some places, the quality of construction was substandard," said an MCL official.