40 lakh people in Bihar fraudulently claimed money for building toilets

PATNA: The Bihar government has detected that around 40 lakh people fraudulently claimed Rs 12,000 for the construction of a toilet under a government scheme twice, the state Assembly was informed on Wednesday.

The matter came to light when officials were scrutinising documents for the disbursal of Rs 12,000 for constructing a toilet under the Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA) scheme, Rural Development Minister Shrawan Kumar said.

"It was found that around 40 lakh people had fraudulently applied for a second time for disbursal of the amount. Their applications were rejected and the government is now contemplating initiating action against them, he said.

The rural development department has so far released the amount under the scheme to around 85 lakh people while 37 lakh others got the money for constructing toilets from some other departments, the minister said. The LSBA campaign was launched in 2016 to make rural areas of the state open defecation-free (ODF).

Meanwhile, Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary informed the house that the state government will soon start distributing appointment letters to 30,000 candidates selected for teachers' posts.

Bihar had taken a decision in 2013 to open a higher secondary school in every panchayat. The state has 8,387 panchayats. The government has started 6,421 higher secondary schools in panchayats by setting up new institutes or upgrading middle schools," Chaudhary said.

The total number of higher secondary schools in the state is 9,360, the education minister said while concluding a debate on the additional budgetary demand for his department.