A total of 392 personnel, including 135 at the chief municipal officer level, are under the scanner in Madhya Pradesh for alleged financial irregularities, with seven dismissed from service, Urban Development and Housing Department Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Dubey told reporters in Bhopal on Sunday, The Hindu reported. Dubey said action had been taken against 146 officials in connection with the irregularities.

Source: The Hindu

"As of now, 392 officers of different ranks, including 135 at the chief municipal officer level, are under investigation or have been investigated. Recoveries have been made from some, increments have been stopped, some have been demoted and others dismissed. Action is being taken in proportion to the irregularities committed by them," Dubey said, according to The Hindu. He said Rs 3-4 crore had been recovered from officials and employees found to have committed irregularities. His remarks came a day after a newspaper report on the issue.

The personnel action is linked to a wider examination of how Madhya Pradesh's 374 urban local bodies buy goods and services. The Lokayukta is examining alleged irregularities in purchases worth nearly Rs 1,134 crore, after a departmental analysis by Dubey flagged extreme price variations for identical goods — disinfectant recorded at Rs 5 a litre in one civic body and Rs 33,500 a litre in another, and a 60-watt LED light bought for Rs 306 in one place and Rs 11,800 in Bhopal — Urban Acres reported. The analysis said the state could have saved about Rs 250 crore on Government e-Marketplace purchases alone by buying closer to average market prices.

Source: Urban Acres

Minister of State Pratima Bagri had earlier ordered a high-level departmental inquiry into the alleged purchase irregularities after a video of Dubey's presentation went viral, ANI reported on October 22. Officials have cautioned that a price difference by itself is a signal for scrutiny, not proof of wrongdoing in any individual purchase, and the individual cases remain under investigation or departmental process.