2 lakh ghost students served midday meal in Bihar, 251 headmasters fined
Headmasters of 251 primary schools in Bihar’s Araria district, Patna, have been fined after annual assessments detected that midday meal (MDM) was being served to about two lakh ghost students.
Admitting gross irregularities in the implementation of the MDM scheme, district programme officer (DPO) Subhash Gupta fined 251 headmasters of ~ 61.68 lakh and 70% have already deposited the amount.
“The fine amount per headmaster ranges from ~ 20, 000 to ~ 1 lakh,” said Gupta, who is in-charge of the MDM scheme in Araria.
Regarding the allegations of block education officers’ involvement in the irregularities, Gupta said he had not received any written complaints against them.
It was found during the annual assessment that out of 5.5 lakh students enrolled in 2,080 primary schools of the district, two lakh were fake.
“The two lakh students had never attended schools. Most of them either did not exist or were pursuing studies somewhere else,” said an official of district education office. An “erring” headmaster said, “While the real culprits have been spared, I had to deposit the fine from my hard earned money.”
This is not the first case of irregularities in schemes related to the education department in Araria district.
Recently, a block education officer was suspended and an FIR was lodged against him and 14 other persons, including headmasters and middlemen, for their alleged irregularities in distribution of scholarships to scheduled caste and tribe students in Kursakanta block of the district. Karti, receiving “consultation fee” worth ₹1.16 crore from Aircel and other firms. Top ED sources shared the information with HT.
Citing ED documents, HT reported last year that according to the terms of a will deed recovered from the Chennai office of Advantage Strategic, 60% of the controversial company was owned by Karti’s family. The remaining was owned by Ausbridge Holdings — once 95% owned by Karti — which was later transferred at a discount to Mohanan Rajesh, an alleged associate of his.
These wills were among a cache of documents recovered by a joint Income Tax-Enforcement Directorate investigation into Karti’s businesses .
Other documents recovered from Karti’s office and Advantage Strategic allegedly show the latter received consultancy fees from companies that had applied to the FIPB with Chidambaram as its chief.
One bank account of Advantage Strategic with Development Credit Bank (A/c 06020100003711) revealed the scale of its operations: Transactions worth ₹151.31 crore since 2005-06.