Madhya Pradesh government takes action against officials over alleged irregularities in civic body purchases worth ₹1,134 crore. (Representational image)

A crackdown began on the civic body purchase scam that surfaced during a review meeting of the department concerned here recently with the Madhya Pradesh government taking action against 392 officials including 135 chief municipality officers (CMOs), a senior officer said on Sunday.

A leaked video of a government presentation has brought to light large scale irregularities in purchases worth Rs 1,134 crore by the 374 urban local bodies in the state.

Additional chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh government Sanjay Dubey said that the process to take to task the erring officials and others involved in the alleged irregularities in the purchase of commodities by the urban local bodies in the state was initiated as soon as the matter came to light.

Action has been taken against as many as 392 officials, including 135 CMOs.

While seven officers were dismissed from service, increments of some of them were held back and amounts to the tune of around Rs four crore were recovered from some others, Mr. Dubey said.

More than 80 contractors and suppliers were blacklisted, he added.

The investigation into the matter is still in progress.

In another development, the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta also launched a probe into the matter.

The government presentation highlighted huge purchase price variations for identical products.

It has been found that one civic body procured phenolic disinfectant for Rs five a litre, while another recorded a price of Rs 33,500 for the same product.

In another instance, a 60-watt Led light was bought for Rs 306 by one civic body while it cost Rs 11,800 in Bhopal.

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