The North Dinajpur district administration will train teachers and other school staff to prevent fraudulent activities related to government funds allocated to students in the wake of the Taruner Swapna grant scam.
Under it, the state grants ₹10,000 to students of higher secondary in state-run and state-aided schools to buy tabs or cell phones. However, in hundreds of cases, the grants have been siphoned off to bank accounts other than that of students. The trend of arrests revealed that Chopra in North Dinajpur is the probable hub from where the cybercrimes are being committed.
So far, around 18 persons, the highest in any district, have been arrested from North Dinajpur in connection with the grant scam.
To prevent such incidents in the future, the administration has planned to train school teachers and non-teaching staff how to counter cyber hacking and information leaks.
“Clerks and nodal teachers, who are responsible for uploading students’ bank account details to government portals, often lack the technical expertise needed to identify and address hacking attempts,” said an official of the department.
Murarimohan Mondal, the district inspector of secondary schools, said lack of knowledge delayed fraud detection.
“From the next academic year, training sessions will be held to equip these staff members with the skills needed to secure portals and accounts from cyber threats,” he said.
“This will ensure that funds from government schemes like the tablet distribution and Kanyashree reach the intended beneficiaries without being siphoned off by fraudsters,” he added.
Kingshuk Maity, the sub-divisional officer of Raiganj, has expressed his support for the initiative and said that the administration would assist the education department in effectively implementing the training sessions.
During the investigation, the police found that the scam had two key aspects. On one hand, the fraudsters hacked the web portal of the state education department and changed the bank details of students, the actual grant beneficiaries.
On the other hand, they persuaded some bank account holders, mostly from rural areas, to “rent out” their accounts to receive the misappropriated grant money for a small commission.
Sabir Alam, a farmer from Kazi Basti in Chopra, was a case in point. Sabir’s account was used to transfer ₹10,000, of which he received a small portion.
Similar instances were reported in various parts of the district, with police teams from Malda, Nadia, East Midnaporee, Kalimpong, and other districts arresting several suspects.
The North Dinajpur district Trinamool leadership has decided to mobilise its panchayat members to create awareness in rural areas and urge the rural populace not to “rent out” their bank accounts for commissions.
“Many get lured by the prospect of making easy money. When a scam erupts, they can’t answer the source of funds in their bank accounts. In this case, some of them have been arrested. Panchayat members will now work to educate people on such actions and how they can become unwitting accomplices in fraud,” said Kanaiyalal Agarwala, the district TMC president.