Bhubaneswar: Sundergarh Collector-cum-District Magistrate Rashmita Panda spent a staggering Rs 70 lakh of Government funds to renovate her residential quarters when she was the Vice-Chairperson of Rourkela Development Authority (RDA) and CEO of the Rourkela Smart City Authority with construction of additional bedroom costing Rs 4,34,861.
Details of the renovation work and the expenditure incurred were brought in public domain in an RTI reply by the Rourkela Development Authority to an application filed by RTI activist Rasmi Ranjan Parida.
A total of Rs 68,57,950.42 was spent for renovation work of the Quarters No 4R/1 at Uditnagar in six months without any open tender.
As per the RTI reply, Rs 4,05,002.07 was spent for construction of additional dining room cost, Rs 4,42,423 for repair, renovation and height of boundary wall, Rs 3,94,275.42 for structural works for repair and renovation of boundary wall, Rs 4,00,506 for construction of guard room and toilet at quarter, Rs 3,80,693 for repair and renovation of the quarters, Rs 3,85,607 for construction of courtyard and additional toilet for bed room, Rs 4,34,861 for construction of additional bed room, Rs 4,23,866.14 for construction of residence office and borewell, Rs 4,44,783 for construction of drain and portico, Rs 4,97,222 for external electrification, and 4,91,100 for Internal electrification, Rs 4,40,951 for fabrication work, Rs 4,39,029 for repair and renovation of toilet and water supply, Rs 4,04,471 for fixing of mosquito net, Rs 4,27,711 for fixing of Aluminum sliding window and industrial tiles and Rs 4,45,459 for plastic emulsion paint and back site guard room.
“No open tender was called for the purpose. Each of the project cost was deliberately kept below Rs 5 lakh to avoid tender process. And notice for work was just hosted in notice board in different dates. Hence, I would like to say that Rs 70 lakh has been spent mindlessly by an IAS officer for repair and renovation of her single residential quarters,” said RTI activist Pradip Pradhan.
