Rs 20 lakh spent on Saswad-Sonori road, potholes remain, engineer probe demanded
Villagers in Sonori allege a contractor and a subcontractor pocketed road funds without proper work, and want the engineer who cleared payment investigated.
Crores of rupees are said to have been spent on development works in Sonori village near Saswad, but villagers allege large-scale corruption has resulted in extremely poor quality work. Some time ago it emerged that a full one crore rupees was spent on building and repairing two school classrooms. Now it has come to light that despite spending 20 lakh rupees on just 200 metres of road, the potholes on it remain as they were, angering villagers.
Locals say there has been large-scale irregularity in the Saswad-Sonori road work. Villagers have demanded immediate action against the engineer who released the payment without checking the quality of the work. A total of 20 lakh rupees had been sanctioned for building a 3-metre-wide, 200-metre-long cement concrete road on the Saswad-Sonori road. Villagers directly allege that the contractor colluded with the public works department engineer and withdrew the money without doing the work.
The contractor for both the school and the road works turned out to be from the village itself. The school work had been taken up by original contractor Sudhir Katore, who got the actual construction done through village sub-contractor Nitin Kale. Similarly, the road work was awarded to Shivri-based contractor Kiran Kamthe, but he too did not do the work himself and handed it to the same sub-contractor, Nitin Kale. Panchayat Samiti public works sub-engineer Santosh Nalawade said 20 lakh rupees had been received for this 3-metre-wide, 200-metre-long work. Notably, villagers allege that it is this same engineer, Nalawade, who transferred the funds without checking the quality of work and pocketed a cut in commission. RPI (Athawale faction) taluka president Baliram Sonawane has demanded a departmental inquiry against engineer Nalawade.
The 20 lakh rupees for this 200-metre road was sanctioned from district planning funds through the Panchayat Samiti. Panchayat Samiti public works sub-engineer Santosh Nalawade said the side strips of the road are yet to be filled and some work remains incomplete. Villagers, however, say the officials are lying and that the full bill has already been withdrawn. This is why RPI (Athawale faction) taluka president Baliram Sonawane has demanded a departmental inquiry against Santosh Nalawade and that a criminal case be registered against him.
