Bhubaneswar, Sep 4: The Odisha Vigilance on Monday arrested two officials of Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd. (HSCL) in connection with misappropriation of government funds in the construction of four 100-seated hostels for SC students in Sonepur district.
The accused have been identified as Sourav Dey, Senior Site Engineer and Saptarsi Goswamy, Site Engineer.
“Both of them failed to supervise the works executed by the contractors and, in connivance with them, facilitated release of payments and thereby allowed the contractors to execute substandard work and misappropriate government funds,” said an official.
Earlier, the Odisha Vigilance officials had arrested Bijay Kumar Agrawal, Special Class Contractor and his Power of Attorney holder Deepak Kumar Agrawal on August 28. The duo had been absconding from their residence at Balangir since the initiation of vigilance inquiry into the matter. They were apprehended by a team of vigilance from Rourkela.
During preliminary surface technical evaluation, large-scale cracks, seepages, low width of roof plaster, use of poor quality wood materials against prescribed sal wood, use of non standard low quality electrical and sanitary fittings instead of prescribed branded products, and many other deviations were detected. Following this, the case was registered.
