PATNA, May 16 -- The nexus between engineers and contractors to carry out work as per their whims and fancies without approval and get payment through inflated bills claiming work done earlier as theirs got exposed during a departmental inquiry that led to the suspension of two senior engineers of Bihar's rural works department (RWD). As part of the government crackdown on corruption in execution of the government schemes in rural areas, the revenue and land reforms department also put under suspension three revenue service officials responsible for denying benefits to the landless under the Basera-2 campaign due to wrong information furnished by them to mislead the department and gross negligence. The three suspensions were in addition to suspension of three other revenue officials earlier. In the RWD, the two suspended engineers include Keshav Sahni, then executive engineer at Marhoura and at present chief engineer (maintenance and upgradation), and Parmeshwar Mehra, then junior engineer at Marhoura and now assistant engineer (Sonepur). Both were found complicit in allowing inflated payment to the contractor in the construction of road under the Gram Sampark Yojana. "The contractors manipulated to show additional length of the road in a different alignment having no linked habitation, which was not approved or required and consisted part of a different scheme, and the engineers passed it for payment without scrutiny and departmental nod. The facts came to light when the department carried out review after the contractors moved court staking claim to inflated bills despite getting the actual payment," said a senior RWD official. The officer said the engineers were charged for negligence, dereliction of duty and grave financial irregularities, causing loss to the exchequer and it was established during departmental inquiry. The disciplinary action has been initiated against both of them to send a strong message to those involved in execution of rural schemes. Additional chief secretary of the department of revenue and land reforms Dipak Kumar Singh said three revenue service officers were suspended for lapses in distribution of land to the landless in Basera-2 scheme following the state-level review meeting with officials under the chairmanship of revenue and land reforms minister Sanjay Saraogi last week. Abhiyan Basera-2 is an innovative land purchase assistance programme offering Rs.1-lakh to landless and economically marginalised families to purchase land if the government land is not available under the Chief Minister's Vas Niti Yojana. Singh said that during review, it was found out of 1,912 landless families, 1,809 had been declared ineligible and the CO of Bagaha-2 in West Champaran, Nikhil, said he did so on the basis of the report of the revenue officer. "He should have verified the revenue officer's report, which he did not. Many applications were turned down writing that they were not from the prescribed category. He did not make any effort to probe further despite huge rejection and depended solely on the revenue officer's report," said Singh. In Bhagalpur's Jagdishpur circle also, out of 764 landless families, the application of 689 were rejected. Revenue officer Nagendra Kumar tried to mislead the department with a plea that most of the cases rejected were from urban areas, while it was not found so. "Nagendra Kumar has also been put under suspension for dereliction of duty, insensitivity towards deprived sections and misleading the department with wrong information. The minister categorically said at the review meeting that any insensitivity towards the deprived sections would not be tolerated and invite strong action," he added. The ACS said the district magistrates concerned had been requested to get the rejected applications re-examined by senior officials so that the needy could be provided land for housing at the earliest....