SJDA engineer held for graft

Siliguri, May 23: An engineer with the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority and an employee of a construction firm were arrested today for their alleged involvement in irregularities in the payments for five projects. Praween Kumar, a contractual sub-assistant engineer with the SJDA, and Amal Krishna Saha, who is with the Eureka Trade Bureau, a Calcutta-based construction firm, were remanded in police custody for five days by a court here. According to a complaint by SJDA CEO Shward Dwivedi, some SJDA officers had paid the construction firm before it had even done the basic work for three crematorium projects. He levelled allegation of corruption as payment was not made “in consonant with government rules”. Sources said some of the engineers at the SJDA had paid the firm Rs 27 crore in advance for three crematorium projects. “Two other SJDA engineers are also involved in the corruption and police are looking for them,” said a source.