Missing tab fund: cases reported from 3 more dists as students start getting grants
Times of India | 12 November 2024
Kolkata: Students from three districts — East Midnapore, East Burdwan, and Malda — who did not receive their allocated Rs 10,000 under the Taruner Swapna Scheme to purchase tablets started recieving the funds from Monday. A meeting was held in Nabanna on Monday to stop of a repeat of the instances of missing funds by introducing an Aadhaar-enabled system from next academic year.
Sources said a report by district inspectors of schools showed that more than 300 students — 64 from East Midnapore, 88 from East Burdwan and 149 from Malda — were yet to receive the funds, and the numbers may go up. On Monday, around 90 students received Rs 10,000 in their accounts.
Meanwhile, 4,841 students from 17 state schools in Murshidabad have received double payments, with the total amount being Rs 4.84 crore. Nine of these schools are from Jangipur. A letter from Murshidabad DI was sent to bank managers, asking them to freeze the amounts. Fraudsters have also targeted the accounts of students from several schools in the Habra-Ashoknagar area of North 24 Parganas, said investigators.
State police stated four FIRs have been received in the case of non-reception of funds. The probes are being monitored at Nabanna and Bhawani Bhavan and DGP Rajeev Kumar is looking into the cases. Cops are even considering forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with members from the CID's Special Operation Group.
Investigators said in a press conference that so far, more than a hundred unauthorised bank accounts have been identified in East Midnapore and East Burdwan where the fund money was transferred. Among these, 80 accounts have been frozen. Most of these accounts are in other states like Jharkhand, Bihar and Rajasthan. However, some accounts have also been found in Murshidabad, North Dinajpur, and Nadia districts of Bengal.
Sources indicate that the method used to access the govt portal and siphon off the students' rightful funds bears a strong resemblance to the modus operandi of gangs from Jamtara in Jharkhand, Alwar in Rajasthan and Gaya in Bihar.
A high-power meeting was held at Nabanna on Monday where chief secretary Manoj Pant, DGP Kumar, and officials of the school education department were present. It was decided that the system would be strengthened next time and may included Aadhaar verification.
(With inputs from Sukumar Mahato and Subhro Maitra)