Chief Secretary directs Edu dept to fix fund transfer errors

Kolkata: State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, on Monday, directed the state Education department to make the fund transfer process to the bank account of the student beneficiaries foolproof and ensure that such wrong transfers do not happen in future. About 309-odd students in six districts have been identified to have not received their share of funds under the ‘Taruner Swapna’ scheme.

The scheme provides financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to students of Class XI and XII for purchasing tablets, smartphones or PCs. Pant in the presence of Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar held a meeting in the presence of senior officials of the state Education department to take stock of the situation associated with the wrong transfer of funds under the scheme. The district magistrates of six districts — East Midnapore, East Burdwan, Hooghly (Chandannagar), Murshidabad, Malda and Jhargram attended virtually. The Chief Secretary was informed that 300 wrong bank accounts have been detected where funds have been transferred.

The accounts have been blocked to prevent withdrawal and a process has been initiated for recovery.

As promised, the state Education department on Monday disbursed funds to the bank accounts of 85 genuine beneficiaries in East Midnapore and East Burdwan who were earlier detected.

The department is conducting an investigation to ascertain what led to the transfer of funds under the scheme into other beneficiaries’ accounts.

“Prima facie, it is not a case of cyber fraud. It is an error which may be intentional too. We will take action against any lacunae on the part of any

official,” said a senior official of the department.

Fresh allegations of double transfer of funds have cropped up in the case of 17 schools involving 4,481 beneficiaries in Murshidabad district on Monday. The district inspector of the school has already brought the matter before the notice of the concerned bank authority requesting them to take necessary steps for retrieval of the funds which is around Rs 4.68 crore.