Imphal, March 31: Following the expose' published in The Sangai Express on January 3 this year under the caption 'Fund misuse cloud on Power Department' detailing the misappropriation of a huge amount of money in the Power Department, the High Powered Committee has issued a notification on March 28 stating that an inquiry shall be held against former Chief Engineer of the Power Department, M Sanaton Singh, 27 Executive Engineers and the Under Secretary in the Power Department under the Manipur Public Servants' Personal Liability Rules, 2005 .

On the other hand the former Chief Engineer in his submission to the High Powered Committee had alleged that he was forced to put his signature on a proposal prepared by the Power Minister.

According to official documents available with The Sangai Express the Power Department had requested the Finance Department to issue the Cash Drawal Authority for specific schemes, heads and divisions on November 13 last year.

Accordingly the Finance Department released the fund on November 30 the same year.

For reasons not specified the Secretariat, Power Department did not release the CDA till December 23, said the documents and added that the Power Department kept on changing the allocation without consulting the Finance Department and on December 24 last year, the CDA was released and distributed, most of which are unapproved and under non-plan schemes.

Following this, the Chief Secretary had instructed the Power Department to check the irregularities being committed by the Executive Engineers, said the documents and added that it appeared that of the Rs 22 crores released, a sum of Rs 17.2 crore had been diverted for unapproved and unauthorised schemes.

Thereafter the High Powered Committee during a meeting held on January 25 this year instructed the Principal Secretary (Power) and the Chief Engineer to furnish details of the unauthorised allocations of the fund.

Further they were asked to fix responsibilities by February 4 this year without fail.

After hearing the inputs from the Principal Secretary (Power) DS Poonia and SE of Power Department N Shyamsunder on February 6, the Committee asked them to submit the details of the unauthorised diversion of Rs 17.2 crores, cost of each scheme, date of sanction of scheme, estimated cost and expenditure incurred till November 30, 2007 .

The officers were also asked to submit the total estimated cost of the approved and unapproved schemes/work orders for which the CDA allocated was used and the amount paid and yet to be paid.

The Committee further asked the Finance Department to examine the written statements submitted by the former Chief Engineer (now OSD Power) and the Under Secretary (Power).

The Chief Engineer and the Administrative Department were also asked to submit the required report to the Finance Department.

In her personal statement to the Committee, the Under Secretary said that after the Finance Department allocated a sum of Rs 2241.29 lakhs, (Rs 2147.59 lakhs under Normal Plan and Rs 93.7 lakhs under SPA, the then Chief Engineer submitted suballocation proposal to the Principal Secretary (Power) on December 20, 2007 .

On perusing through the file, the Power Minister said that the proposals of the Chief Engineer did not indicate the amount to be sub-allocated under Normal Plan and State Plan Assistance. On the instruction of the Power Minister, the Chief Engineer submitted a revised proposal and it was approved by the Minister, said the Under Secretary.

The file was handed over to the Under Secretary to issue the approved suballocation, said the statement and added that since the Principal Secretary did not return to his office till 7 pm on December 24, 2007, the allocation of Rs 2241.29 lakhs under Normal Plan and SPA to 26 different divisions of the Power Department was issued under her signature on December 24, 2007.The Under Secretary submitted that she has no knowledge about the utilisation of the fund allocated.

The former Chief Engineer in his statement contended that on August 27, 2007 he had submitted proposals for release of CDA for 27 division for an amount of Rs 31 crores to the Principal Secretary.

Further another proposal was submitted to the Principal Secretary on November 13, 2007 for allotment of fund for CDA under Non-Plan and Plan for the year 2007-08 for an amount of Rs 2478.9 lakhs by enclosing chargeable Heads of Accounts and allocable CDA only.

Following this the Finance Department had allotted fund for CDA amounting to Rs 2241 lakhs for Plan on November 30, 2007 indicating the chargeable Head and the amount under Normal Plan and SPA.

As instructed by the Administrative Department, the then Chief Engineer said that he submitted the proposal for division wise sub-allocation of fund for CDA for a sum of Rs 2241.29 lakhs to the Principal Secretary on December 20, 2007 .

After some days of the submission of the proposal the Power Minister summoned the Chief Engineer to his residence at 9 am and produced a fair draft proposal in place of the proposals submitted earlier by the then Chief Engineer, the officer contended said in his statement to the Committee.

The draft proposal prepared by the Power Minister was totally different from the proposal submitted by the then Chief Engineer in respect of divisions, amounts and chargeable heads.

The Power Minister threatened the then Chief Engineer to sign the draft proposal prepared by him (Minister) in respect of 26 divisions, said the officer in his statement.

The former Chief Engineer further said that the same proposal could have been corrected or cancelled by the Administrative Department (Power) before releasing the CDA, said the documents.

The CDA was handed directly to the Executive Engineers and they could not be contacted after getting the CDA due to the present law and order situation, submitted the former Chief Engineer.

The documents available with The Sangai Express also cited the report submitted by the present Chief Engineer BS Chingtham.

In his statement to the Committee, the Chief Engineer said that though funds have been released against the Chargeable Heads no works have been taken up and questioned under what circumstances the fund was sought.

The Chargeable Head for the work included the construction of 33 KV S/S with Line at Yairipok (Andro) (amount released by Finance Dept Rs 322.6 lakhs and budget provision in 2007-08 Rs 400 lakhs), system/erection of 22 KV D/C line from Dimapur to Imphal (amount released by Finance Department Rs 423.41 lakhs, budget provision for 2007-08 Rs 525 lakhs), augmentation of 132/33 KV S/S at Kakching, second phase (amount released by Finance Dept Rs 40.32 lakhs, budget provision Rs 50 lakhs, rural electrification loan 44-RE schemes (amount released by Finance Dept Rs 80.65 lakhs, budget provision Rs 100 lakhs).

For the last head, the amount is to be demanded only when the Department obtain loan from REC, said the Chief Engineer in his report and added that so far there is neither any application nor release of loan from REC.

The crucial Monsangei to Khuman Lampak via Konga line which is nearing completion was not included in the for this work, while releasing the substation construction division number 1, added the Chief Engineer.

After listing his findings, the Chief Engineer said that it be inferred that the sum of Rs 17.2 crores have been diverted to other works where there is no sufficient budget provisions, leading to misuse of fund.

Following the probe, the High Powered Committee has decreed that the misappropriated sum of Rs 17.2 crores should be recovered from the salaries and pensions of the former Chief Engineer, the 27 Executive Engineers as well as the Under Secretary (Power).

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