MOGA – Hundreds of sarpanches and panches protested against the SAD-BJP Government for handing over the task of auditing and reviewing panchayat accounts to private auditors, in Moga on Monday.
Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka had recently stated that one chartered accountant (CA) would be given the audit work of the villages falling under two blocks and over 54 CAs had been assigned for the task in the state. He had also stated that funds received under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act would also be audited and action would be taken against anyone found guilty of misappropriation of funds.
The state government has also decided to put up display boards in villages regarding the grants sanctioned so that these were not misused by any public functionary or government official.
The district president of the association of sarpanches and panches of Moga, Nihal Singh Talwandi Bhangeria, said the state government should conduct the audit through government agencies instead of handing over the task to the private auditors.
They raised slogans against the SAD-BJP Government, particularly against Maluka, alleging that the audit by private auditors would lead to widespread corruption in the Panchayati Raj system.
The sarpanch of Datta village, Gurinder Singh Guggu, said the introduction of private auditors would increase the level of corruption in the panchayats.
He said leaders of the ruling party leaders would try to create undue pressure on the sarpanches of opposition parties to toe down their lines by “threatening to slap false cases of corruption”.
