Corruption alleged at Jharsuguda airport

 Jharsuguda: Jharsuguda Airport Director Sandeep Kumar Tiwari was transferred after he allegedly abused and assaulted Airport Association worker Sandeep Minz following a heated argument. A case was registered against him in this regard at Airport police station at Talpatia.

Minz, in his complaint, had stated that sand excavators, which were used for airport runway work, were lying at the airport after the work was completed. Minz alleged that in course of time, more than 100 truckloads of sand were sold without any paperwork on the instructions of the Airport Director and the Civil Engineer. When the Association workers took up this matter with Tiwari, he got angry and allegedly assaulted Minz.

Now, investigation has revealed that huge amount of money was sanctioned for the construction of badminton court, guest house and union office for the officers and the employees in the airport complex. But due to the collusion between civil chief engineer, contractor and director, work was done only on paper and more than Rs 1 crore was shown to be spent, the Association alleged. Similarly, Rs 1 crore was sanctioned for the construction of a new road, but it is only half-constructed.

There is also an allegation that the contractor and the engineer falsely inflated the number of contract workers and made payments to non-existent “ghost employees.” The Association has also alleged that huge amount of money is being misappropriated for garden maintenance of the complex.

Sources said the former Airport Director’s wife conducted an interview for job for an airline and offered it on her own.

The firms employing contract workers at the airport are not paying bonus. They are deducting money from the salaries of the workers and paying it as bonus.