Welfare schemes: State introduces SOP to bolster security in DBT
Kolkata: The state Finance department has come up with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure more security in financial transactions carried out through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer). The move assumes significance in the backdrop of some irregularities cropping up in money transfers particularly with the ‘Taruner Swapna’ scheme of the state government.
The state government has been running several schemes for the last few years where financial benefits are directly transferred to the concerned beneficiaries through DBT mode that includes projects like Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyashree, Widow Pension, Rupashree, Aikyashree, to name a few.
Different state government departments are acting as Nodal Implementing Agencies concerning different such ongoing schemes.
The SOP will also be applicable for DBT to the beneficiaries of the Awas Yojana scheme in which the first installment is scheduled to be paid after December 20.
According to the SOP, at the time of entering beneficiary details, the account numbers of the beneficiaries should be entered twice in the dedicated field to avoid any typographical mistake in entering the account number of the concerned beneficiary.
There should be necessary facilities for uploading a copy of the first page of the bank pass book / cancel cheque where the bank account details of the concerned beneficiary are clearly shown.
The SOP advocates for special care when matching the benefit scheme with the beneficiary getting the same.
There should be validation in the portal/system so that the same bank account number cannot be captured against different names of beneficiaries. IFSC validation should be there in the system as per the latest RBI IFSC list.
It has been made mandatory that the bank account of the beneficiary should be of a bank branch within the jurisdiction of West Bengal with the account details being approved by the competent officer, not below the rank of Group A.
In the case of applications submitted online, there should not be any physical movement of paper, forms and no manual intervention in the system.
In case the applications are submitted manually, the portal shall be developed in such a manner so that the identity of the persons entering the beneficiary details and the persons approving the concerned beneficiary can easily be traced.
The SOP further calls for special attention in cases where the names of the beneficiaries are not matched properly with their bank account details.
There should be seamless integration between the department portal and the payment portal.
“We are hopeful that with the implementation of the SOP, there will be zero error when it comes to DBT,” a senior official of the state Finance department said.
