skip to content
Advertisement
Premium

‘Taruner Swapna’ scheme: 70 students say did not get money meant for tablets, probe ordered

School authorities and parents raised complaints that these students are victims of cyber crime.

Mamata BanerjeeCM Banerjee has asked officials to find out why the beneficiary students did not receive the funds and also identify the culprits.(PTI file photo)

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered an inquiry after some intended beneficiaries of the ‘Taruner Swapna’ scheme, an initiative of the TMC government, alleged that they did not receive Rs 10,000 meant for the purchase of tablets (mobile device with a touchscreen display, rechargeable battery, and mobile operating system).

As part of its ‘Taruner Swapna’ project, the government recently gave Rs 10,000 to students of Class 11 and 12 to help them purchase tablets. However, school authorities and parents raised complaints that the money has not been received in the account of the eligible students. They have further alleged that these students are victims of cyber crime.

CM Banerjee has asked officials to find out why the beneficiary students did not receive the funds and also identify the culprits. Additionally, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant has sent instructions regarding the incident to the Secretary of the Education Department and has sought a full report on it. Also, the beneficiary students, whose money has gone to another account due to the alleged ‘hack’, should be sent their money into their bank account with immediate effect.

Story continues below this ad

Recently, four schools in the Purba Medinipur district raised a complaint that most of the students of Class 11 and 12, did not receive money to purchase tablets. After investigation, the officials of the district education department came to know that the bank account numbers of 70 students of Class 11, from those four schools, were hacked and the money was transferred into the fraudsters’ account. As a result, even though the government sent the money to buy tabs, it went to the fraudsters’ account.

Following this, similar complaints were received from different districts like Burdwan, Murshidabad. Under the ‘Taruner Swapna’ scheme, the school authorities send a list of students along with their bank account number to the state education department and the government accordingly sends an amount of Rupees 10,000 to the account’s of the children to buy smartphones and tablets.

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement

You May Like

Advertisement
Advertisement