A major fraud has been detected in Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s flagship welfare scheme Maiyan Samman Yojana providing monthly assistance to poor women.
The Bokaro district administration has traced a bank account to North Dinajpur district in Bengal through which 94 applications have been made of different beneficiaries.
“During the physical verification of suspected beneficiaries, we detected a bank account of IndusInd Bank from North Dinajpur in Bengal which has been used 94 times by different applicants from different blocks of Bokaro district claiming to be beneficiaries of the welfare scheme. We have ordered an FIR against the person (bank account holder),” said Bokaro deputy commissioner Jadhav Vijaya Narayan Rao.
The Maiyan Samman Yojana, which has been claimed by poll analysts as the reason for Hemant’s return to power for the second term with a landslide margin in the Assembly polls last year, provides ₹2,500 monthly assistance to poor women (over 56 lakh) in the age group of 18-50 years. Before December 2024, women beneficiaries received ₹1,000 every month.
According to sources in the social security department in Bokaro, during the physical verification of suspected beneficiaries, applications have been made 49 times from Chandankiyari block, 20 times from Kasmar block, 12 times from Bermo block, seven times from Gomia block and two times each from Chas and Nawadih blocks and one time each from Chas municipal area and Chandrapura block.
All the applications have been made by the common service centres (commonly known as Pragya Kendra) in Palamu district of Jharkhand and Kishanganj in Bihar. During the verification, the bank account holder's name has been identified as Sufni Khatun from Jhargaon, North Dinajpur, Bengal.
"Even the ration card numbers used in the application are fake and have been confirmed by the district supply officer," said Bokaro additional director, social security, Piyush.
Applications have been made several times simultaneously on October 31 and November 1, 2024, while the bank account was opened in August 2024.
The deputy commissioner has also informed that during the physical verification of the beneficiaries, they have detected 11,200 suspected duplicate applications from Bokaro.
"Physical verification of which is being done once again by Anganwadi workers. After which, the person will be identified and appropriate action will be taken," said a senior administrative official in Bokaro.