By IANS
Chandigarh : Eleven executive officers (EOs) of various municipal councils in Punjab were Friday suspended and 27 were named for punishment after it was found that they had diverted funds to the tune of Rs.200 million.
State Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said the officials were involved in "planned financial frauds" for some time.
"This is unfortunate. They were habitual in not depositing pensions and other contributory deductions from employees' salaries but they were found to be diverting the same for other purposes," Kalia said.
The suspended executive officers had diverted over Rs.3.5 million each from the pension and other benefits of employees of the urban local bodies.
The suspended officers are from municipal councils in Pathankot, Deenanagar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepore, Sujanpur, Kapurthala, Talwandi Bhai, Abohar, Gidderbaha, Fazilka and Rama towns.
Kalia said that retired employees had already been given their dues by the local bodies department, while serving employees were likely to get them by June end.
The minister warned officials in his department not to indulge in financial irregularities with public money, failing which action would be taken against them also.