NORTH LAKHIMPUR, April 12 - A scam has surfaced in North Lakhimpur Public Health Engineering over construction of sanitary toilets under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
The North Lakhimpur PHE, which released Rs 1.45 crore for the construction of sanitary toilets under various GPs of the district in March this year, is alleged to have embezzled the money through fake sites and substandard works. The PHE allocates Rs. 12,000/- for each sanitary toilet in Lakhimpur district, but there have been allegations that several GPs have syphoned off the amounts without constructing any such facilities. In many cases, the construction work was substandard while money were released against half-completed structures. The role of certain SHGs and NGOs have been found to be dubious as they too siding with some officials of the North Lakhimpur PHE. Similarly there has been allegations of fake constructions in which photos of previous works were produced to receive the amount meant for SBA. There have also been allegations in selecting beneficiaries for allocating the sanitary toilets in rural areas by the North Lakhimpur-PHE.
