Tripura, August 28: Khowai Block Development Officer (BDO) Aniruddha Das has termed allegations circulating on social media regarding the alleged theft and misuse of government-supplied cement as “completely false and baseless.”
A video went viral on social media on August 19 and 20, alleging that cement belonging to Khowai Block was being misappropriated and used for the construction of the house of the Chairperson of the Khowai Panchayat Samiti. Khowai CPI(M) MLA also raised the allegation on social media, claiming that the Panchayat Samiti Chairperson had used government cement for her house and that the BDO had not considered an inquiry into the matter necessary.
Speaking exclusively to Dainik Sambad, Khowai BDO Aniruddha Das said that after seeing the allegations on various social media platforms, he decided to conduct an inquiry since the work in question fell under the jurisdiction of Khowai Block and the Rural Development Department.
According to the BDO, an inquiry team comprising Panchayat Supervisors, Work Assistants and engineers was constituted on August 23, with instructions to submit a joint field inquiry report within a day. The report was submitted on August 24.
The inquiry found that two development works are currently underway under Madhya Singichhara Gram Panchayat.
The first is the construction of a paver-block road from Mohana Bridge towards the house of Jyotish Bhattacharjee at Madhya Singichhara GP. The work, measuring approximately 103 metres, is being implemented under the 15th Finance Commission, with a sector engineer from Khowai Block serving as the Implementing Officer.
The second work is the construction of a CC road from Mohana Footbridge to Champahour PWD Road at Madhya Singichhara Gram Panchayat. The road is approximately 140 metres long and is being executed under the Khowai RD Division, with another sector engineer acting as the Implementing Officer.
Regarding the cement bags shown in the viral video, the BDO said the joint inquiry report found that some cement had been stored at the house of Prabhas Bhattacharjee for the convenience of carrying out the ongoing work. However, some of the bags had hardened and become unusable.
“Cement bags can sometimes become hardened due to natural factors while construction work is in progress. The cement found during the inquiry had hardened and was no longer fit for use,” the BDO said.
Responding to the allegation that the cement was being used for the construction of the Khowai Panchayat Samiti Chairperson’s house, Das said that no such finding was made in the joint inquiry report.
He clarified that the cement was related to the two ongoing development works—one involving cement from the RD Store and the other involving cement from the Block Store. He said there was no documentary evidence in the inquiry report to support the allegation that the cement was being used at the Chairperson’s residence.
The BDO further said that action had already been initiated regarding the hardened cement. On August 25, a written order was issued to the concerned Implementing Officer for the paver-block project to bring the unusable cement bags back to the Block Store.
He added that this is part of the department’s routine procedure, under which construction materials that become unusable are returned to the concerned store.
Similarly, the BDO said he had written to the Executive Engineer of the Khowai RD Division on August 25, requesting that necessary steps be taken to remove the hardened cement bags associated with the CC road project and return them to the RD Store.
