Imphal, June 09: Even as the people have been grappling with the problem of power shortage and efforts are being made to improve the power distribution system, an Executive Engineer attached with Ukhrul Division of the Power Department has reportedly swindled an amount of Rs 16,40,514 on the pretext of procuring equipments to boost the power supply in the district.

Disclosing this to The Sangai Express, a reliable source said that the matter came to light during the course of investigation into a case by the Vigilance.

Interestingly the incident has come about at a time when the whole people of Manipur are grappling with the problem of shortage of power and the Governor himself has a taken keen interest in the efforts being made by the Department concerned to improve the power situation in the State.

The case is being investigated further by the sleuths of the Vigilance Department to find out the possible involvement of other officials, the source said.

The source disclosed that so far the investigation has led to detection of fraudulent submission of brochures related to 35 different bills on supposed supply of electrical equipments for the district by four Imphal-based firms located at Imphal although the Department had not issued any supply order in this connection at all.

The electrical goods supposedly supplied for Ukhrul Division and Phungyar-Kasom Khullen Division include 11 KV DP Bracing, Lighting arrester, DO Barrel with hardware, Light separator, Kit-Kat 100/200 ampere, LT Bushing Rod, HT Bushing Rod, Turn buckle and PVC cable, etc.

Over and above the fact that the Department had not issued any supply order to the said firms, the investigation has also found out that the four firms had not supplied any goods to the Executive Engineer nor received any money from him in this regard.

In fact, one of the firms had been compelled to prepare eight bills at the insistence of a cashier of the Division though no supply order had been received no any money in turn for the favour.

Based on the findings of the investigation, Vigilance has recommended to the Government for awarding major penalty to the accused Executive Engineer and other involved Assistant Engineers under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act after conducting a departmental inquiry.

Furthermore, the Vigilance has also recommended to the Government for recovering the amount from the accused Executive Engineer and the Assistant Engineers under the Manipur Public Servant Personnel Liability Act.

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