Raids are underway at a government official’s quarters in Jhargram, a businessman’s house in Chunchura in Hooghly, an expelled panchayat worker’s house in Murshidabad and a former block development officer’s residence in Salt Lake.
This is the first time the central investigation agency is conducting raids in the state in connection with the alleged corruption linked to MGNREGA schemes.
Around 7 am on Tuesday, a six-member ED team reached the official quarters of an administrative officer in the Bachurdoba area of Jhargram city, along with central forces. The officer, who works in the district’s minority office, was also questioned. Police officers, however, were not allowed to enter the residence.
Searches are also underway at the house of an expelled panchayat worker, Rathin Dey, in Murshidabad district’s Baharampur. Businessman Sandeep Sadhukhan’s house in Mainadanga in Chunchura is also being raided. Sadhukhan owns a factory. According to ED sources, the Salt Lake residence of S K Pan, a former block development officer (BDO) of Dhanekhali, is also being searched.
The ED initiated the investigation after filing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on the basis of five first information reports lodged at several police stations in the state, including two at Murshidabad’s Beldanga police station and one at Hooghly’s Dhanekhali police station.
According to ED sources, the investigation has revealed that the central allocation of crores of rupees for 100 days of work has been reduced to nine. According to the investigating agency, fake job cards were created to collect and siphon money meant for the 100-day work scheme.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday accused the BJP of conspiring against the party after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that her government would transfer funds to the bank accounts of 21 lakh MGNREGA workers in the state by February 21. “After the CM announced to release funds, the BJP is shaken and doing this. It is a political vendetta. Today’s event shows that ED and CBI are being used as tools. Suvendhu Adhikari [Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly] has time and again threatened, and accordingly, the CBI and ED are acting,” TMC minister Sashi Panja said.
For nearly two years running, the Centre’s decision to withhold funds for several rural welfare schemes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), has been a major political issue in West Bengal. The pending dues issue has been repeatedly raked up by the TMC, which has accused the Centre of deliberately stopping the release of funds. According to the West Bengal government, Rs 6,900 crore is due to the state under MGNREGA.
The BJP, however, has alleged that the West Bengal government had issued 2.5 million fake MGNREGS job cards due to which crores of rupees of government funds were siphoned off.
According to a detailed reply in Parliament a few months ago, funds under the MGNREGS to West Bengal have been stopped since March 9, 2022, in accordance with provisions under Section 27 of the MGNREGA due to non-compliance with directives of the central government. The section was first invoked in December 2021, alleging large-scale corruption and violation of guidelines.