Chennai, June 10 (IANS) The Coimbatore district administration is preparing to initiate criminal proceedings against former Ramapattinam panchayat president R. Ponnusamy for alleged misappropriation of government funds during his tenure.

The action follows the direction of District Collector G. Giriyappanavar to the Assistant Director (AD) of Panchayats to file a police complaint.

According to officials, Ponnusamy is accused of misusing funds under two major government schemes — the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

Kamalakannan, Assistant Director of Panchayats, said that the Pollachi North Block Development Officer (BDO), who returned to duty on Monday after 10-day leave, has been instructed to file a formal police complaint in the coming days.

“There was a delay in initiating the complaint due to the BDO’s absence,” he admitted, adding that the officer has now been directed to follow up on the matter and submit a detailed report to the Collector.

As per sources, the District Collector ordered the AD to take action since the panchayat president’s tenure has ended, limiting the scope for direct administrative action.

A government probe revealed that Ponnusamy failed to execute check dam construction works on lands belonging to two local residents — Nagaraj and Nithyananthan — despite receiving funds for the same.

The Collector has ordered the recovery of Rs 6.53 lakh from Ponnusamy on this count. The investigation also found that Ponnusamy authorised the disbursal of Rs 1.07 lakh as daily wages to workers and purchased raw materials worth Rs 4.50 lakh by submitting forged documents.

The payment was reportedly made to a vendor named Nataraj, who has since repaid Rs 2.09 lakh to the government.

The Collector’s order emphasised that Ponnusamy failed to obtain the necessary approvals for these projects through gram sabha meetings and did not secure administrative sanction from the district authorities.

Additionally, he failed to maintain proper records of workers’ attendance and wage disbursal.

“The explanation submitted by Ponnusamy after the misappropriation was found to be unsatisfactory,” the order noted.

Officials said the criminal complaint is likely to be filed at the local police station within the week, marking the start of formal legal proceedings against the former panchayat head.

–IANS

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