Taking a serious note on the alleged Rs63 lakh scam in the Reimbursement Cost of Medicine (RCM) scheme by a few primary school teachers, Pattamundai BDO Ramchandra Jena recently served a notice to the accused teachers to refund the amount to the drawing officer by April 27 or face disciplinary action.
Meanwhile, five out of 32 errant teachers, who duped the Government fund, refunded a sum of Rs5.62 lakh to the BDO.
The money will be deposited in the Government exchequer, Jena said.
Notably, the fraud came to the notice of the administration after locals lodged a complaint with the District Collector that the teachers had swindled the money by forgery in connivance with a few other officials. The District Collector, on April 5 last, had directed Sub Collector Pratap Kumar Mishra to conduct an inquiry.
The latter had visited Pattamundai block and local CHC.
During an inquiry, it was found that Rs63 lakh had been availed by 32 teachers by submitting forged medicine bills and prescriptions.
A day after Mishra’s inquiry, the district drug inspector had raided Pattamundai –based Ananta Balia medicine store and seized medicine bills and other necessary documents.