Till Thursday, Leela Devi, 65, of Chhoti Kothia village had no idea that according to Bihar government records, she had given birth to eight children in the span of the last 13 months. A fellow villager and sexagenarian, Shanti Devi, 66, become a mother of two children within a span of 10 hours in one day, according to the same records.
Both women are recorded as beneficiaries of the National Maternity Benefit Scheme under the National Rural Health Mission, which entitles them to ₹1,400 for each institutional birth.
Collusion of officials
“My fourth and last child, a boy, is 21-years-old now…when I came to know that I have been included as a beneficiary under NRHM, I approached the operator of bank’s CSP where my account is but the operator pleaded not to make any complaint and said he would return the money withdrawn in my name,” Leela Devi told local media persons.
After being tipped off by some villagers, Leela Devi and Shanti Devi, along with other 16 women of Chhoti Kothia village under Musahari block of Muzaffarpur district, have demanded a high-level probe into the “scam” allegedly orchestrated by local officials of Customer Service Point (CSP) of a nationalised bank and Community Health Centres (CHC). Under the scam, the money was deposited into their accounts operated at the local CSP and subsequently withdrawn over several months, they alleged.
Fifty other women from other villagers of the same block have also been unwitting pawns in the fraudulent scheme, sources said.
Probe ordered
Following media reports of the fraudulent withdrawal, the Muzaffarpur District Magistrate formed a four-member probe team under an ADM-rank official Rajesh Kumar to submit a report within three days.
“Whoever will be found guilty, stern action will be taken against them,” said DM Chandrashekhar Singh.
The State Health Minister Mangal Pandey, too, has directed that a high-level probe by a senior department official.
Meanwhile, a local official in Muzaffarpur told The Hindu that the CSP operator in question Sushil Kumar has been absconding while an accountant of local Community Health Center of the Musahari block Awadhesh Kumar has been put under suspension.
“Let it be investigated properly and if required, the investigation will also cover more districts and more heads will roll down…nobody will be speared,” said the official.
However, in 2016, a similar incident of fraudulent withdrawal of money under the same scheme in Aurai block of the same district was reported in which 750 beneficiaries were issued fake cheques of a nationalised bank in neighbouring Sitamarhi district.
“An inquiry was ordered then but except action against a few lower level officials, nothing happened and the report was hushed up,” a senior journalist of Muzaffarpur told The Hindu over phone. He added, “This time too I cross my fingers”.
