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West Bengal: 3 Employees of Malda’s Ratua Panchayat Fired for Corruption in 100-Day Work Scheme

Trinamool Congress and BJP leaders allegedly forged bank account names, pretending to be someone eligible to receive the scheme’s amount.
West Bengal:  3 Employees of Malda’s Ratua Panchayat Fired for Corruption in 100-Day Work Scheme

Image Courtesy: Business Today

Corruption in the 100 days’ work scheme is a hot topic of discussion in West Bengal these days. A lot of cases involving names of ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) members as well as a few government employees are in the news for alleged corruption. Among these a scam at the Gram Panchayat of Malda district’s Ratua, Block no. 1, Village Baharal, has recently been in the news leading to the firing of  three panchayat employees.

What actually happened? According to the sources, numerous complaints regarding the 100 days’ work scheme have been made at the District Magistrate of Malda Rajarshi Mitra’s office. In this regard, three employees of Baharal Gram Panchayat - Manik Alam, Rahat Ansari and Chaitali Mandal  -- were under suspicion. An investigation was carried out by panchayat joint secretary Vaibhav Chaudhary, after which these three men were fired..

Alongside, another investigation was carried out against the Nirman Sahayak secretary and assistant of Kahala and Baharal Gram Panchayat. Sources said these employees have been suspended till the probe is completed

In addition, an incident took place in Kushida Gram Panchayat area under Harishchandrapur police station of Chanchol, where Left leadership lodged a complaint with the Malda DM on the basis of allegations made by some local residents.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) district committee member Mirajul Firdaus alleged that ‘money has been deposited in the names of the Pradhan's husband, Upo Pradhan (deputy chief) and several panchayat members of the ruling party and their family members.”

He alleged that money was also deposited in the accounts of three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members. “The people in whose name the money came, the real beneficiaries, did not get it,” he said, adding that in 2017, too, the TMC-run panchayat was accused of misappropriating funds for flood relief.

Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, TMC's Malda district general secretary, said: “Our chief minister has talked about an anti-corruption policy a number of times. But still a part of the government is corrupt. The actions taken by the government are commendable, but I feel more action should be taken. Such Illegal practices going on since long have taken things too far. But karma will come back, and even if someone from our party is involved, he/she will be punished.”

Meanwhile, attacking the ruling TMC, CPI(M) district secretary Ambar Mitra alleged: “If we keep track of each and every gram panchayat, scams in the 100 days’ work are happening at a huge scale. From beginning to end, Trinamool was always a part of this scam. Not just one or two members, but the whole party is involved in this. As a result, those involved can be seen riding luxury cars. Where is this huge amount of money coming from?”

Pointing fingers at BJP, too, Mitra said: “Even they didn’t leave any chance to get involved in all this,” claiming that “since the very beginning we (Left) were always against corruption. We led a deputation regarding this matter to the DM’s office. Funds collected for floods at Harishchandrapur in 2017 have also been scammed. An RTI (Right to Information) was filed on this issue but the government has no answer in defend.”

Meanwhile, Khagen Murmu, BJP MP from North Malda, alleged that Trinamool had been using the 100 days’ work money as their party fund since the past 12 years. He alleged that a few government employees were also a part of the ‘scam’, and demanded a CBI investigation into the matter.

(The original article has been edited for style purposes)

Credit: People’s Reporter

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