Villagers question 'supari' entries in Rs 29,800 Khadsangi gram panchayat bill

A bill for Rs 29,800 has become a new issue in the sit-in over the functioning of the Khadsangi gram panchayat in Chimur. The bill is in the name of Sairam Kirana and General Stores, Khadsangi, carries the number 437 and names the Khadsangi gram panchayat as the customer. Villagers are now questioning the items recorded in it and how they were used.

The bill lists oil, gram, salt, biscuits and soap, along with items such as "chicken supari" and "katra supari". The purchase is said to have been made for nutrition food at the anganwadi. However, the anganwadi worker herself has said plainly that she did not receive these items. The question therefore is where this bill fits in the accounts.

A string of questions has arisen. If the purchase was for the anganwadi, did the goods reach it? If it was for the gram panchayat, was a resolution passed at a gram panchayat meeting for it? The answers to both are expected to be found in the records.

The bill carries no date, and in some places the entries for weight and rate are incomplete. For this reason, an inquiry into the purchase process is being demanded. However, the entries on the bill alone do not prove wrongdoing. Examining the purchase order, resolution book, stock register, distribution register and related payments will therefore be important. Villagers and youths have been sitting on a dharna in front of the gram panchayat office for the past 24 days, demanding an inquiry into alleged financial irregularities in the Khadsangi gram panchayat.

Villagers are also alleging cash transactions on the basis of some other suspicious bills and blank bills. An official inquiry into these allegations is yet to be held. Whether the goods on the bill were actually bought, where they were used and whether there was competent approval will be known only through a check of the records. Until then, villagers are keeping a close watch on the transparency of the gram panchayat's accounts.

Gram panchayat member Rupchand Shastrakar said, "No decision to buy any goods was taken at the monthly meeting. The question is, then, on whose decision this purchase was made. I therefore completely disagree with this bill."

Surekha Athargade, the anganwadi worker in Khadsangi, said, "We did not actually receive these purchased goods. We did not get any supari shown for the anganwadi either. So we have no information about the purchase written in the bill."

Kawadu Tarare, the gram panchayat officer of Khadsangi, said, "These transactions did not take place during my tenure. So I have no information about them. For now, the charge of the gram panchayat is with me."