Malda, March 21 -- Several married women, some even with children, have fraudulently obtained "unmarried" status marital certificates from Panchayats to avail benefits under the Kanyashree scheme. The scam came to light in Harishchandrapur, Malda, where officials found a significant number of fake applications during an investigation.
During a field verification, the Block Administration officials were left stunned by the extent of the fraud. Out of 16 applications reviewed, 14 were found to be fraudulent. This was discovered in just two villages - Talgachi and Karkaria - raising concerns about a much larger scam.
The Joint Block Development Officer (BDO) personally reviewed these applications on Thursday and immediately canceled the fake ones. The findings have created an uproar in the district administration, raising serious concerns about corruption within the Kanyashree scheme, which was originally designed to support schoolgirls' education.
The Kanyashree scheme, launched by the Bengal government, provides financial aid to unmarried girls aged 13 to 18, offering Rs 1,000 annually for education.
Additionally, those who remain unmarried till 18 receive a one-time grant of Rs 25,000. However, officials have found that many women, already married and some even with children, falsely claimed to be unmarried to avail the benefits. The investigation also uncovered allegations of bribery. Some government employees are suspected of being involved in the fraud, accepting bribes of Rs 5,000 from applicants in exchange for approving their applications. Two government employees are already under investigation and Malda District Magistrate Nitin Singhania has called for an urgent report on the matter.
Tapas Pal, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Harishchandrapur-II, confirmed the involvement of some block-level staff who allegedly submitted false reports in exchange for bribes. He assured strict action against those responsible.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Sahabuddin, headmaster of Jagannathpur High Madrasa, clarified that schools are responsible only for uploading student documents to the government's Kanyashree portal. The final verification process is conducted by the block and panchayat officials, making it clear that the fraud originated at the administrative level.
Joint BDO Sonam Wangdi Lama, who led the field verification, expressed shock at the scale of the fraud. "We reviewed 16 Kanyashree applications from two villages. Fourteen of them were fake, so we immediately canceled them," he stated.
The scam has raised serious concerns about the integrity of government welfare schemes and the need for stricter verification processes to prevent such fraudulent activities in the future.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.