The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to take up a series of stringent measures before releasing funds to nearly 12 lakh beneficiaries under the rural Awas scheme later this month to avoid a repeat of the Taruner Swapna funds theft.

The state panchayat department has asked all the gram panchayats to keep two-three computers and smartphones ready with good Internet/Wi-Fi connectivity to upload the details of housing beneficiaries, including their bank account details, before releasing funds.

“Our first task will be to help beneficiaries upload their Aadhaar card and bank details in the database of the scheme in the gram panchayat office so that they are not forced to visit the cyber cafes.... It is suspected that trouble in transferring Taruner Swapna funds took place only because some schools had uploaded the bank details of beneficiaries from cyber cafes,” said a senior government official.

Under the Taruner Swapna scheme, the state government transfers a one-time ₹10,000 grant to the bank accounts of each higher secondary student in state-run and state-aided schools to buy tablets or smartphones. However, in recent months, it was found that in more than 2,000 cases, the grant meant for students was transferred to other bank accounts.

“Probe revealed that some groups had hacked the database of the beneficiaries and siphoned off the money.... The state government does not want a similar goof-up in the rural housing scheme where the grant is much bigger,” said a senior official.

The state government is set to transfer the first installment of ₹60,000 each to nearly 12 lakh beneficiaries to construct homes in rural areas from its coffers this month. The Centre stopped the release of its share of funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), citing irregularities in the scheme in Bengal a couple of years ago.

Sources said that the state wants a foolproof system for funds transfer under the housing scheme for two reasons.

First, as the amount is much higher than that of Taruner Swapna, it would be tough for the cash-strapped state to repay the amount to housing beneficiaries if the grant is siphoned off.

For instance, the state has had to reimburse ₹2 crore to the 2,000 students who did not get their Taruner Swapna grant. It would be tough to reimburse ₹60,000 to each of the housing beneficiaries should any misappropriation take place.

Second, a repeat breach of cyber security was likely to leave the beneficiaries of all direct benefit schemes across Bengal panicky.

A source said that the panchayat department would share a special app with the gram panchayats to upload beneficiary details a day or two before funds are transferred to prevent any forgery.

The state government has also asked the gram panchayats to set up special camps to upload beneficiary details. Each beneficiary will have to be informed personally to visit the camps.