State tweaks software to check fake accounts in welfare schemes

Principal Secretary (Social Welfare) Prem Narain said: “The department was using a software to store details of all the beneficiaries of the old age pension scheme. Besides the scholarships for SC/ST,this is the only other scheme that has been computerised. Our probe revealed several flaws in the software,which made the system vulnerable to frauds and anomalies.”

It was found that small changes in details of beneficiaries could be used for creating new accounts and enlisting them in the list of beneficiaries.

“Here is a sample. A beneficiary Ramlal has been spelt as Ramlal in one account and Ram Lal in another. Hence,two accounts are created by minor changes in spelling. The software,meanwhile,reads this as two accounts and the money,meant for one,is transferred to both the accounts,” said an official with the department.

Another method used to forge accounts is adding the caste name with the maiden name. “Ram Avatar became Ram Avatar Pasi in another account,thereby having two accounts running on his name. The original account holder may even not be aware of this,” added the official.

The department has now asked the National Informatics Centre in Uttar Pradesh to ensure a foolproof method for managing records.

“From now on,the account numbers of all beneficiaries will be digitised to ensure there is no duplicacy introduced through minor changes like a dot. Also,the districts have now been asked to fill up all details including father’s name and complete address of all beneficiaries along with their castes,to minimise the possibility of forgery,” added Narain.

The department has also decided to crack the whip against erring officials in different districts.

The district magistrate of Barabanki has ordered a salary cut

for all officials of the district social welfare office who are found

guilty of delaying probe in the welfare scheme.

A case in point was reported from Rae Bareli where a constable’s wife was drawing widow pension despite the constable being alive. Now,the department has ordered the recovery of the amount and also asked the Home department to conduct an inquiry against the constable along with action against the guilty officials.

In Muzzafar Nagar,the department has ordered action against seven officials of the district social welfare office. Similar actions have been initiated in districts like Sultanpur,Unnao,Ambedkar Nagar,Meerut,Baghpat and others.