CHANDIGARH: Punjab rural development and panchayat minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Friday ordered to chargesheet 10 officials of his department along with six sarpanches in Rs 121 crore scam in six panchayats of Ludhiana district besides handing over further investigation to the vigilance bureau. The department has also initiated the process of recovering money spent without departmental approval from the accused officials and sarpanchs.
The cabinet minister said that panchayats of village Salempur, Sekhewal, Selkiana, Bounkar Gujran, Kadiana Khurd and Dhanansu of block Ludhiana-2 have received an award of Rs 252.94 crore after the acquisition of hundreds of acres of panchayat land of these villages, but Rs 120.87 crore were withdrawn from this amount with the connivance of some corrupt officers and employees along with sarpanchs.
Bhullar has directed to immediately chargesheet Block Development and Panchayat Officers (BDPOs) Rupinderjit Kaur, Gurpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh Mangat and Simrat Kaur; panchayat secretaries Gurmail Singh (now retired), Harpal Singh Randhawa, Bagga Singh, Jashandeep Chandel, Harpal Singh Sahjomajra and Harjit Singh Malhotra. Sarpanches who have been ordered to be chargesheeted include Sudagar Singh(Dhanansu), Neha (Salempur), Amrik Kaur(Sekhewal), Mukhtiar Singh(Bounkar Gujran), Harpreet Kaur(Selkiana) and Rajinder Kaur(Kadiana Khurd) besides officiating panch of Bounkar Gujran village Gurcharan Singh.
