Lucknow, November 9: The Uttar Pradesh government has taken strict action against corruption in the Social Welfare Department, dismissing four officials. Additionally, it has decided to cut the pensions of three retired officials.
The Social Welfare Department informed on Sunday that some corruption cases had been pending for more than a decade and a half. These cases were investigated under the supervision of Aseem Arun, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Social Welfare. This action was taken on scams in Shravasti, Mathura, Shahjahanpur and Auraiya districts.
The department minister has also directed the registration of FIRs in all the cases. The first action taken against these officers was against Meena Srivastava, posted in Shravasti district. She served as the then District Social Welfare Officer from March 2008 to April 12, 2012. During this period, she fed data to applications received under the Chief Minister’s Mahamaya Garib Arthik Madad Yojana without obtaining approval from the competent authority. She altered the account numbers of beneficiaries in the approved list of the Marriage and Illegible Scheme. She has been dismissed from service for her involvement in the embezzlement of scholarship fee reimbursement funds.
Similarly, Karunesh Tripathi, posted in Mathura, has been dismissed from service. He has been charged with irregular scholarship fee reimbursement payments to private ITI institutions, including the payment of โน2.53 crore to 11 unrecognized institutions as scholarship fee reimbursement. She was also charged with embezzling funds by enrolling children aged 2 years to 51 years in ITI courses at private ITI institutions. The department will also recover โน19.25 crore in addition to her dismissal.
Sanjay Kumar Beas posted in Hapur district will also be dismissed from service and Rs 3.23 crore will be recovered. During his posting, irregularities were committed in scholarships to students by forging records. Instead of transferring the scholarship fee reimbursement amount to the bank accounts of students after obtaining debit authority letter from educational institutions, an amount of Rs 2.74 crore was transferred directly to the bank accounts of educational institutions.
Along with this, Social Welfare Officer Rajesh Kumar posted in Shahjahanpur has also been dismissed. Rs 2.52 crore will be recovered from him. Under his National Old Age Pension Scheme, the bank accounts of beneficiaries were changed and benefits were given to ineligible people.
Shri Bhagwan, the then-retired District Social Welfare Officer posted in Auraiya, has been found guilty of misappropriating the names of old-age pensioners. During his tenure, the accounts of 251 beneficiaries were changed and pension funds were transferred to other individuals. The investigation revealed a government loss of โน33,47,400. Of the embezzled amount, โน20 lakh will be recovered from the officer’s dues, and a 10 percent permanent deduction will be made from his pension.
Vinod Shankar Tiwari, the then District Social Welfare Officer of Mathura district, will have โน1.96 crore permanently deducted from his pension by 50 percent. He has been found guilty in the scholarship scam. In addition, Uma Shankar Sharma, the then District Social Welfare Officer posted in Mathura, has also been found guilty in the scholarship scam. A permanent deduction of 50 percent from his pension and a government loss of โน88,94,040 has been ordered.
Aseem Arun, Minister of State for Social Welfare, said in a statement that the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is continuously taking action against corruption. This process will continue. Further pending cases will also be addressed promptly, and FIRs will be filed.