Fund assistance under Krishak Bandhu to an enrolled farmer in Memari here is getting diverted to the bank account of an Agriculture department staff automatically since June, 2021 which has raised suspicion about an organized corruption by a section of departmental staff and a probe has been sought by the beneficiary.
Niren Sen – a farmer from Maheshdanga village in Memari was enrolled under Krishsk Bandhu and started getting direct benefits under the scheme. The state had been remitting the fund assistance directly to Niren’s registered bank account, as the farmer’s family said. Prabal Sen – Niren’s son complained,”Since June, the fund stopped coming and we inquired the matter with my father’s Burdwan Central Cooperative Bank account and came to know that the fund was diverted to a new account.”
On further investigation, it was revealed that the new account holder was Goutam Mondal, a staff with the block Agriculture department in Memari and in either circumstances he couldn’t be an eligible beneficiary. The family brought the matter to the notice of the DM, Burdwan East and the Agricultural Karmadhyaksha of the Burdwan East Zilla Parishad.
Also, Sen and his son chased Mondal who allegedly assaulted them and his colleagues drove them out of the office recently. Prabal alleged: “We suspect that a coterie is looting the state’s fund meant for the farmers this way.”
Krishak Bandhu is a Bengal government’s scheme meant for providing financial assistance to farmers for agriculture and social security to the farmer families in cases of untimely death of beneficiary. Zilla Parishad’s Agricultural Karmadhyaksha, Mohammed Ismail said: “I’ve received a complaint from the family about this and forwarded the matter to Agriculture department.” That too was three months ago, still the family was yet to get a remedy.