BHOJPUR, July 16: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has caught chief of Irrigation Development Division Office (IDDO), Bhojpur while he was accepting Rs 180,000 in bribe from a consumer committee on Monday.
Mohanbabu Yadav, chief engineer of IDDO, was arrested at around 12 pm while accepting bribe from the consumer committee. It has been learnt that Yadav took the bribe from the consumer committee of Chhange Khola Irrigation Project at Shadananda Municipality-13. Reportedly, Rs 9.8 million was sanctioned for the project but this year only Rs 1.7 million was spent on the project.
Damage to irrigation amounts to Rs 2.42 billion
As per one of the members of the committee, Yadav had clearly stated that he would evaluate the work and sanction the expenses only if he was provided 20% of the project amount as commission. After the committee members agreed to the demand, Yadav had reached to nearby Bhupu Bhadauni Home and Lodge on Monday to receive the bribe money. Acting on a tip-off from the consumer committee members, the team of CIAA, Itahari reached the hotel and arrested him.
Chakra Bahadur Karki, consumer of the irrigation project as well as the Secretary of Nepali Congress (NC),Bhojpur stated that they were obliged to inform the CIAA as engineer Yadav had made similar demand during the evaluation of another irrigation project as well.
