New Delhi. It seems that government money is like flowing water, whoever you see is eager to fill its bucket. Government officials forget that this money comes from the public’s hard-earned money. Now a similar robbery case has come to light in Odisha also. Where government officials first bought Mahindra’s SUV Thar for themselves and then spent the same amount of money on its modification. When the matter came to light, the government ordered an investigation.
This is the case of Odisha government, where under government procurement, Mahindra’s SUV Thar was purchased for the Forest and Environment Department of the state. According to Indian Express, now the government has said that a special audit of this procurement process will be conducted. This order has been given due to fraud in the money spent on the purchase of the vehicle. According to the news, the Forest Department had placed an order to purchase 51 Mahindra Thar vehicles in November last year. About Rs 7.1 crore was spent on this. Till now it was fine but the matter came to light when the forest department officials spent another Rs 5 crore on the customization or modification of these vehicles.
What is the government’s order?
According to the note sheet signed by Forest and Environment Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia, the government has ordered a special audit of the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife). This audit will be done by the special audit team of the Accountant General Department, whose objective will be to investigate the process of government procurement and customization of vehicles. The minister had earlier also said that there is a need for investigation in this matter after financial irregularities came to light.
From which angle will the investigation be done?
A senior official said that the audit team will check whether the correct process has been used in the purchase of vehicles. Also, whether permission was taken before making modifications to the vehicle or not. Whether prior permission was taken regarding the cost involved or not. Apart from this, was approval received from the Finance Department for all these expenses? Whatever items were installed in the car, were they required and whether any external agency was involved in this entire process or not.
21 items installed in every car
The official said that after the purchase of the vehicles, 21 items have been installed in each vehicle and the total bill is around Rs 5 crore. In such a situation, everyone is wondering what was spent on buying a car worth Rs 7 crores that Rs 5 crores went only on accessories. Officials say that this customization has been done to increase faster patrolling, monitoring and surveillance. With these accessories, response time can be reduced and illegal activities like hunting and wood smuggling in the forest can also be stopped. Apart from this, the vehicle has also been prepared to prevent incidents like fire, because incidents of fire occur frequently in the forests of Odisha.
car made to drive in the forest
Officials said that the purpose of this customization is to make the car easier to drive and patrol on the rough roads of the forest. However, if any irregularity is found in the audit, serious action will be taken against the accused. All these 51 vehicles have been distributed among 22 wildlife divisions of the state, out of which 9 vehicles have been given only to Similipal Tiger Reserve, where illegal hunting of animals is a big problem.
how much forest area in odisha
The area of protected area for animals in Odisha is about 8,869 square kilometers, which is about 5.69 percent of its total area. Apart from all the national parks, tiger reserves and 19 wildlife sanctuaries of the state, many conservation reserves also come in this area. There is a huge expanse of wildlife in Odisha, keeping it safe is a big challenge for the state government.
